


Fur

by transriot



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Asexual Character, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Other, Underage Drinking, Warnings May Change, lucina is a cat, the morgans are dogs, trans!libra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-20 20:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 65,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4800944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transriot/pseuds/transriot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chrom has always been a cat person, but sometimes he likes to visit a park to see the dogs that pass by. There's a man he constantly see, along with his two, adorable dogs.</p><p>Completed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Paws

**Author's Note:**

> lucina is a cat (russian blue)  
> morrigan (female morgan) and morgan are both newfie pups  
> might be a bit ooc but my headcanon is that robin (both versions) are extremely sassy when they're in a good enough mood, and they bring out that sass in chrom

Chrom honestly preferred cats to dogs, they were quieter and and he appreciated when his small kitten curled up by his side when he studied. Of course, that isn’t to say he didn’t like dogs. He had just grown up with cats, most of them being his older sisters'. Besides, with Lissa’s allergies they never got the chance to have a dog. Bringing a dog near her would cause her to start sneezing and get red eyed with a dry throat.

So they never had the option of getting a dog unless they wanted to constantly stack up on medications to stop Lissa’s symptoms. Honestly, Chrom didn’t mind. He was able to pet any of his friends dogs when he got the chance, but he still preferred cats.

His own cat, Lucina, was picky when it came to affection. She was constantly all over Chrom but when it came to other people she would watch them silently and glare until they gained her trust. Most cats were like that, but Lucina was extra picky, seeming to hiss at some of his friends as soon as they step in the house for the first time. But she wasn’t mean, other than that really, she would just run off and hide in some corner until they were gone.

After a few visits she would come out and meow at them for attention. She preferred Chrom to anyone else, curling up in his lap and purring loudly.

But sometimes he liked to walk in the closest park to him and glance at any of the dogs that passed by with a childlike adoration. He would be trying to study but sometimes he longed for a dog, causing him to stare and smile at any dog who passed and turned it’s head towards him on the street.

There were two black dogs that seemed to be curious about him, constantly tugging on their leashes and leaving their owner to struggle slightly to sniff at him. He’s always wanted to reach out and pet them but their owner would call them back and tug softly before giving him a smile. It wouldn’t have mattered anyways, whether the owner pulled them back or not since he was hesitant to touch the dogs. Chrom figured the owner wouldn’t appreciate it if he did.

Their owner was a different story entirely, not only were the two dogs he walked were adorable but the owner himself was just eye-catching. With white hair that seemed to fall softly around his face and an easy smile that Chrom just found charming. He never bothered to talk to him though, just like with petting his dogs, Chrom was hesitant to approach him.

It seemed that whenever Chrom was there, the dogs and their owner was there too. He figured it was a walking schedule but surely the owner must’ve had several routes in the park. Chrom thought that maybe he just preferred that route to all others.

It wasn’t like he minded, he got to see a cute dog owner and two cute dogs whenever he was there. Of course, he wouldn’t pet the dogs. He thought that Lucina might get jealous if he did, he wasn’t sure about her standpoint on dogs but having an angry cat wouldn’t be the best for him since she was so testy.

#

Chrom figured that since it was cold outside that he should stay inside, to avoid a cold or just for the sake of being comfortable while he studied. Despite the idea of being comfortable and warm, Chrom decided to face the briskness outside and sit in his usual spot. It was going to be his last chance to study outside till the spring, so he wanted to enjoy it while he could.

That’s why he was sitting with his long legs tucked up and a book balancing on his thighs as he leaned against the trunk of a tree. Chrom was glad that it wasn’t windy outside, making sure his pages and papers stayed where they needed to. There wasn’t to much homework for him to do, since he did the majority in whatever downtime he found in the past week.

It was about 20 minutes into when he sat down that he heard barking and a voice yelling; “Morrigan! Morgan! Come here!” the voice wasn’t to deep, but deep enough for Chrom to presume a masculine presenting person behind it.

A black furred blur almost ran past him but Chrom managed to lurch forward and grab onto the leash as fast as he could.  The dog skidded to a stop, whining that it’s mad dash was interrupted. He glanced down at his stuff, relieved to see that it hadn’t been knocked down far away or ruined. Chrom sighed in relief, looking back at the dog which was still trying to pull on the leash.

“Sit?” the order sounded more like a question than a command, but the dog sat down anyways, looking at him. The dog panted, staring at Chrom almost accusingly for interrupting its run. He pet the dog gently, “Good… boy?” when the dog wagged it’s tail at his unsure statement, he continued to pet it with another “Good boy,” more sure this time.

The dog seemed to be calming down, less eager to leave and start running again. After a few minutes, the sounds of feet jogging and paws hitting the ground made Chrom pick up his head and stop paying attention to the dog that was now on his back.  Chrom was met with the site of the cute dog owner and the other black, almost identical black dog he owned. The white-haired male was panting just slightly, a small flush in his face.

Chrom wondered how long he was chasing after his dogs.

“There you are, Morgan,” he seemed visibly relieved and Chrom stood from his kneeling position. He handed the shorter man the leash. “Thank you, I wasn’t sure where he ran off to. Him and Morrigan just ran off on their own and…” he seemed flustered, and Chrom could understand why.

Chasing after two, rather large newfies was probably exhausting and nerve racking. Especially when you were the presumed owner of the two dogs.

The man shifted the leashes, holding one and stepping on the other. He glanced down at the dogs, as if to glare at them into staying and not running off again. He looked back up at Chrom, a small smile playing at his lips.

“I’m Robin, by the way, I see you around here a lot and figured I should introduce myself since these two devils seem interested in you,” he glanced back down at the dogs for a moment, affection filling his eyes, “Thanks for capturing Morgan, by the way,” Robin stuck out his right hand.

Chrom returned the small smile, shaking Robin’s right hand. “Chrom, it’s nice to meet you,” Morgan--the boy dog he presumed--nudged the palm of his left hand curiously.

Glancing at Chrom’s stuff and then glancing back at Chrom, Robin released his hand. “You know, there are better, warmer stuff to do homework than the cold ground.” Chrom smiled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly while petting Morgan, who was clearly asking for his attention.

“I guess there is, but it’s my last chance to really sit outside and study before it gets really cold,” Chrom shrugged.

Robin hummed, picking the leash under his foot back into his hand. “I guess it is,” Robin watched him pet Morgan. “He likes you, Morrigan seems to find something about you interesting to sniff though,” Robin returned his attention on Chrom. The small smile was cuter up close, Chrom decided.

“She’s probably smelling cat,” at that, Robin’s smile fell just slightly.

“Oh, you’re a cat person,” there was a glint in Robin’s eyes, and the corner of his mouth twitched as he tried to be serious. Chrom tried to stop his smile from widening a fraction, but failed when Robin’s mock seriousness failed.

Chrom stopped petting Morgan, who tried to lick at his hand. Morrigan was now trying to receive Chrom’s affection as well. “You’re dogs seem to like me a lot, would you really stop them from liking such a mean, grumpy cat person?” Chrom joked, petting Morrigan this time.

“I suppose I can’t stop you’re r vile ways, next time you might turn them into cats,” Robin was grinning by then.

“Next time?” Chrom blinked at Robin, stopping his affections to Morrigan. “I thought a dog person like you would resist taking a cat person’s number,” Chrom was already searching for his phone.

 **  
** “How could I resist letting these two see someone who’s clearly deprived of a dog's love?”


	2. Muzzles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thsi one was so long i cry  
> chrom's texts are in italics, i imagine he types between perfect synthax to rlly weird abbreviations

Robin couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Gaius’ bored sounding voice in their kitchen. Morrigan was in his lap, refusing to budge. She didn’t seem to realize that she was no longer a puppy, and instead was a big dog now. At least Morgan didn’t join his sister. “So you finally talked to that guy you were creeping on?” Gaius came out of the kitchen, munching on whatever was in his hidden stash.

“I was not creeping on him, Gaius,” Robin pet Morrigan’s head, nuzzling her. “I just like that trail, and so do the pups,” he buried his fingers in her fur. His multi-toned fingers sticking out against the pure black of fluff that was his dog.

“Sure, Bubbles, whatever you say,” Gaius plopped on the floor near Morgan. “Libra complained about finding dog fur in his chest binder, he’ll never get it out.”

  
Robin hummed, “Morrigan probably slept on it last time he was over. She’s fond of him,” Robin cooed at his dog, who sniffed his face and licked his cheek.

“Probably. Did you put in the game?” Gaius looked at Robin. Robin nodded.

“Seeing as it’s on the screen, yes, I deduce the game is in,” Robin tossed Gaius a remote. He caught it clumsily.

“Careful there, Bubbles, don’t want to fuck these things up even more,” Gaius started the game, signing in. Robin watched him. “You sure you don’t want to play this time around? I thought you wanted to play the game first,” he glanced at his roommate. Robin just shrugged.

“I’m feeling generous tonight,” he absentmindedly tugged on his sleeve of his hoodie; their heater was broken. Robin would much rather have his hands in Morrigan’s soft fur rather than getting cold with the game remote.

“Should I start calling you padre?”

“Thought you reserved that for Libra to get him annoyed.”

“More like to get him in bed,” Gaius’ smirk was illuminated by the kitchen and television light combined. Robin pushed him with his foot, Gaius laughing loudly. It wasn’t true, since they both knew Libra was asexual and allowed Gaius to make jokes about their nonexistent sex life because it was admittedly funny sometimes, but just the mere thought of his friends fucking disturbed him.

“You’re gross and gay,” Robin rolled his eyes again. He seemed to always be doing that around Gaius.

“Speaking of high levels of gay,” Gaius glanced at Robin. Robin clicked his tongue when he saw that Gaius had been killed by a fairly easy enemy to beat. “What’s your crushes' name?”

“It’s not a crush, and his name is Chrom,” almost as if he was waiting for his name to be said, Robin received a text. Checking his phone, he shifted so Gaius couldn’t see the small smile on his face.

“You sure it’s not a crush?” Gaius was attempting to beat the enemy again, a smirk on his face once more. Robin didn’t say anything, so Gaius continued with his teasing. “I’m pretty sure there’s some pink and scarlet going on with your cheeks there.”

Robin shoved his head with his foot again, “It’s not a crush,” his smile had widened a fraction. Morrigan looked at him, as if wanting an explanation from the sudden lack of petting she was receiving. Robin scratched her behind the ears.

“Didn’t you say that about me in freshman year?” Robin glared at him, a glare that would’ve been terrifying if not for the smile that was still on his face.

“I can’t believe I dated you,” dating Gaius wasn’t that bad, really. It was fun while they dated. They just broke it off after a few months since they decided that they didn’t feel much attraction for each other in that way anymore, deciding to instead to just be friends. Robin was personally happy about the solution, and any feelings he had harbored were gone. He suspected it was the same way for Gaius.

“I’m a catch, just ask Libra.”

“I have more refined taste now,” Robin joked, dark blue hair popped into his mind for a brief moment.

“Are you insulting Libra?”

“Not Libra, just his odd taste in men,” Robin didn’t look up from his phone and Gaius didn’t look back at him. It was all just playful banter, they both knew that much. Gaius muttered a curse under his breath; Robin glanced up and saw that he had died again. Placing his phone on the coffee table, Robin extended his hand, “Give me the remote.”

Gaius grunted, and handed it to him without a complaint. “You’re fighting a dragon and you don’t have full potions, you do realize that there aren’t supply caches just scattered around the world, right?”

“I know, and I should go back to one of the camps but I don’t want to get back to the dragon only to have the same amount of potions. I don’t know how I can survive,” Gaius pet Morgan, who was fast asleep next to him.

“Vivienne is able to heal the whole party.”

“What the fuck, seriously?”

Robin couldn’t help but laugh in response. He played the battle carefully, making sure his mages supported the warriors while the duel-weaponed rouge that Gaius played as attacked the enemy from as behind as close as he could get. The dragon was electric, which thankfully, Gaius’ Vivienne had the right staff to go against it. Robin managed to beat the dragon faster than Gaius’ could’ve died. He handed the remote back to Gaius. Slipping out from underneath Morrigan, who whined when he got up, he grabbed his phone to get him something warm to drink.

“I can’t believe you!” Gaius called after him.

Robin just smiled, pulling on his hoodie strings. His phone had vibrated several times while it rested on the table, Robin wasn’t surprised when he saw the collection of texts he had received were all from Chrom. Smiling to himself, Robin unlocked his phone to view them all at once. There was one picture of Chrom’s cat from a collection of earlier texts. Robin wasn’t much of a cat person, but he found the pictures cute.

_Lucina keeps meowing angrily at me when I take a picture of her_

_Its also gonna snow  tomorrow_

_idk how dog owners walk their dogs in snow_

_Especially when they have two dogs who like to run_

__

You seem busy. Morgan and Morrigan are both highly photogenic and are more than eager to take pictures

It’s not gonna be that bad I don’t mind walking the dogs in the snow.

_Are you implying that Lucina is not photogenic_

__

She’s highly photogenic, but my dogs are better.

Robin wondered if he was being too sassy, it wasn’t often he was quick to come out of the side of his mouth. At least he hoped so, since some could figure him rude. It wasn’t like he hadn’t received enough shit as it was. Growing up with vitiligo was hardly a problem for him, in all honesty. He never minded his skin much, and he moved around so often he never got too much shit for it. But his abilities, or lack thereof, alarmed him.

Any other self-hating thoughts were interrupted by his phone buzzing again. He glanced at the texts while making what he had came into the kitchen for. The soft smile returned to his face when he read the text. Robin didn’t figure he and Chrom were close yet, but Robin appreciated Chrom’s “company”--they hadn’t really had a conversation outside of text since they first swapped numbers--and he didn’t mind the occasional texts that were out of the blue.

He wondered if Chrom texted everyone like this. He seemed more reserved in face-to-face conversations. Unless it was just because he was trying to break the ice. Robin didn’t really mind, he was glad he finally talked to the man he had shared glances and smiles.

_We've never hung out_

 

True, why? Wanna see my pretty face?

_I was just wondering if you want to. I mean, you’re near campus right? Shouldn’t be hard to set up something._

__

I live near it, kinda have to with both my roommate and I go to this school.

_Ive noticed you around campus a few times :0_

_Anyways, do you wanna hang out_

 

Have anything in mind?

_Nope_

I guess you’re bad at planning things

_What makes you say that_

Just a feeling, i'll try to figure smth out, i’ll text you then

_Alright, i’ll try too_.

Robin slipped his phone into his sweatpants, the microwave beeping. He hissed at the hot cup, finishing and going back to the couch. It had gotten cold so quickly, but maybe it was because Robin got cold easily. He had grown up in warmer temperatures, while Ylisse had warm summers and cool falls, once it was halfway through fall or the first week of winter, the cold would hit so fast and freeze everything on Robin’s body. It turned into an icy wonderland of hell.

He didn’t mind winter, he just wished he didn’t have to endure winter without a heater to keep his room warm. At least he had dogs.

Returning to the living room, Robin place his cup down and shoved his feet under Morgan, who just huffed softly. Gaius had switched to a different game. “Why didn’t you make me any?” Gais looked at Robin’s hot chocolate. The white-haired male just shrugged, sipping it slowly.

“You didn’t ask,” Robin answered, Gaius didn’t say anything else. Robin honestly expected the response, but he didn’t say anything else for awhile either. They both stayed silent, Robin watched Gaius play and quietly sipped hot chocolate. “Chrom offered to hang out but he’s clueless as to what to do,” Robin didn’t mind the silence. But, admittedly, he was eager to let Gaius know that they were going to hang out.

“Wow, bubbles, you usually ‘casually’ flirt before asking them out, you’re moving faster than usual,” Robin didn’t have to turn around to know that Gaius was smirking. “When’s your first kiss gonna be?” Robin snorted at Gaius’ comment. Gaius was an embarrassing friend, Robin didn’t mind at all.

“Soon,” Robin joked, Gaius laughed lightly. “Anyways, would it be weird to invite him over?” he glanced at Gaius. It had been awhile since Robin had hung out with someone that he hadn’t know for awhile.

“Are you planning to sleep with him? Make sure to put a sock on the door if you do,” Gaius said the comment so blandly Robin almost took him seriously. Almost. Instead of saying anything, Robin opted for throwing a pillow at Gaius’ face. Gaius all but squeaked before breaking into laughter.

Robin groaned, leaning down and burying his nose in Morgan’s fur. “Bringing him here is out of the question.

#

Robin ended up inviting Chrom out for lunch, nothing to expensive since he was a poor college student and could only splurge on rare occasions throughout the year. He thought about going out to coffee, but deiced that actual food would be better. Chrom had eagerly accepted, suggesting a place so fast Robin wondered if he had written a list of possible scenarios and where they would go.

They set up a date, agreeing on the Saturday after they had texted each other. As far as he knew, college kids were either sleeping around lunchtime on a Saturday or out and mingling like him. He knew that a couple of his friends just went out on Saturday to get away from their dorm for a moment and to get good.

It was basically what Chrom and Robin were doing, just less fast food and more organized.

While Robin was leaving, Gaius had asked him to bring back any leftovers. There was no comment about Robin leaving for a date, which was honestly surprising to Robin. Typically Gaius would’ve said something that left the tip of one of Robin’s ear pink. Agreeing to bring back leftovers, Robin had wrapped himself in a light jacket and left the apartment.

Chrom had only texted texted him to confirm the time they were meeting up. Robin had replied with confirmation and a message saying he was on his way. A (very) small part of him was disappointed by the lack of texts. The other part was just excited to see Chrom face-to-face again.

Robin was sure he wasn’t romantically attached to Chrom, despite Gaius saying otherwise. Yes, he found the blue haired man undeniably attractive--hot, Robin found him hot, and his smile was just adorable--but romance wasn’t on Robin’s list. Dating was hard, and while he enjoyed it, he wasn’t sure if h  wanted to have a romance with someone he had just met. Robin wasn’t that good at dating anyways, he just happened to get lucky sometimes and even more lucky if his exes still liked him after they dated.

Groaning to himself, Robin’s head rolled against the window lightly. Why was he thinking about this? He didn’t pin the blame on Gaius for his teasing. The intrusive thoughts were always there, ruining his fun. Robin tried to ignore them.

Realizing that they were nearing his stop, Robin hurriedly pulled the chord and muttered a small thank you to the bus driver as he got off. He glanced down at his phone, checking the address again and that he was heading in the right direction when he was sure he was heading the wrong way. It wasn’t a long walk from his stop to their restaurant. When he go there, he looked up at the restaurant sign. He moved to text Chrom that he was there.

“Robin,” a voice behind him made him jump. He turned around quickly, greeted with Chrom smiling at him. “Hey,” Chrom’s voice seemed softer, as if he realized that he had startled the Robin with calling out his name.

Robin returned his smile, “Hey. Wanna go inside?” Chrom nodded, following Robin inside the warm, nicely smelling restaurant. The two got a table easily enough, he figured that this place was more popular during dinner time than it was at lunchtime, unless they just happened to miss the lunchtime rush. The warmth of the restaurant had made Robins shed his coat as soon as they were seated.

“I went here with my little sister last time she was in town, it’s a nice place,” Chrom spoke up, his voice was still a bit soft. It was better than his voice being loud in such a quiet place, Robin met his eyes.

“You have a little sister?”

“Her name is Lissa, she’s a med student,” their waiter came over, taking their orders before walking away again. Robin watched them leave for a moment before focusing back in on Chrom, “I don’t know how she does it, honestly,” Chrom laughed slightly.

“I have an identical twin,” Robin didn’t share too much about his family. There was a lot about his family that he didn’t want to share. He lived with his mother till he had left for uni, but his twin had lived with their father after they turned twelve.

“That must’ve been confusing while you were growing up, did your parents ever mix you up?”

Robin smiled, laughing at the idea. It had happened a couple of times, and it was worse if they were in the same class, poor teachers could hardly ever tell the two apart. At least until fifth grade where Robin’s brother had gotten a different hairstyle than Robin. “It depended on the situation, we don’t actually pull the pranks that twins do in the movies,” they hated being confused for one another.

Their waiter came to their table with their orders, Robin wondered if the kitchen was fast or if the time was just passing faster than he had expected. Robin thanked them, accepting his food with a small smile. It was silent for a moment as they both ate, Chrom had made a good choice in suggesting this place. The food was good.

After a while, Chrom spoke up again, “I have an older sister too, her is Emmeryn. She’s four years older while Lissa is two years younger? Yeah, she’s two years younger,” Chrom sounded unsure of his sisters ages for a moment.

“I’m older by four minutes,” Robin grinned at him. “So you’re the middle child?”

“It isn’t that bad, really. I mean, I was a jerk but Lissa was a brat so both of us weren’t the best kids until I was like, ten,” Chrom shrugged slightly. Robin thought the idea of Chrom being an ass to his sisters while he was younger amusing.

Not wanting to say much more about his family, Robin redirected the conversation, “What’s your major?”

“Political science, what about you?”

“History major, I’m trying to get a teaching license too,” Robin wasn’t sure what grade he was going to teach yet.

“You want to be a teacher?” Chrom  had finished his food faster than Robin expected, he blinked at him for a moment.

“Is that surprising?” Chrom shook his head, and Robin finished his food. Chrom didn’t say much else, stretching slightly.

“Do you want to split the bill?” Chrom spoke up finally, and Robin nodded in agreement. The waiter came back and they paid the bill before they took their leave.

#

“You sure you don’t want me to give you a ride home?” Chrom rose an eyebrow, looking at Robin. Robin shook his head now, refusing.

“The bus stop isn’t that far from my apartment, besides, you live in the opposite direction from me,” Robin wouldn’t want Chrom to waste gas money. “I don’t mind the bus, I’m used to it,” Robin waved his hand dismissively.

“Alright, if you’re sure then,” the two reached Robin’s bus stop. Chrom looked down at Robin, he wasn’t that much shorter but they still had to tip their heads to meet eyes. “I’ll text you when I get home?”

  
Robin smiled, “I’ll be waiting.”


	3. Tails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is filler until the plot starts like next chapter

Chrom had always been one to trust others quickly. While it didn’t always ring true, it also wasn’t a fruitless lie. The unmeasurable trust he would put into practically strangers would leave anyone shocked. However, even if he did trusted too easily for his own good, Chrom can’t say that becoming so easily so attached to someone wasn’t common for even him.

 

The fact that he was already so attached to Robin left him in the position of relentless teasing from Lissa and concern from the closest friend Chrom had. 

 

Frederick was one of the friends that stuck around forever. Chrom had been friends with him since childhood and he was sure he couldn’t rid of Frederick even if he wanted to. Luckily for Chrom, he did not want to get rid of the other man. Although,the overwhelming protectiveness and brotherly love Frederick had for Chrom was almost suffocating.

 

Also luckily for Chrom, the teasing Lissa did to him was trained by the distance of their schools and she could only tease through technology. Unluckily for Chrom, Frederick and his everlasting love lived in the same flat as he did. Which meant that Chrom was constantly being questioned about Robin since Frederick didn’t trust him apparently.

 

He was also sure that Frederick was convinced by Lissa that Chrom had some sort of romantic feelings towards Robin.

 

“Chrom, I don’t want you to rush into something with a stranger,” Chrom didn’t say anything in response, just listening to Frederick while he ate his cereal. Frederick was really convinced by Lissa that Chrom was dating Robin- or was about to anyways, “However, if you needed private time with this Robin, please text me beforehand.” Chrom choked on his cereal, putting the bowl down on the counter.

 

He coughed, looking at Frederick with the tips of his ears burning and his cheeks as well. He had no idea how to respond to that. After a few moments of just staring at his best friend with honest shock and embarrassment on his face, he responded. “Frederick, we’re just friends. You really have to stop letting Lissa convince you otherwise,” Chrom sighed. 

 

Chrom felt embarrassed that Frederick was already considering what he would do if Robin and Chrom were to sleep together.

 

“Even if Lissa was wrong, you still stare at your phone as if you’re a puppy waiting for an owner to come home,” Frederick’s face remained blank, his voice sounded just as monotone, “You’re constantly waiting for someone to text and I’m ninety percent sure that it’s Robin.” 

 

“Again, stop listening to Lissa, and there’s the ten percent that it’s not Robin,” although, admittedly, it was more like 99.9% that he was waiting for Robin to respond for the texts that Chrom sent him throughout random times of the day. But that was besides the point and Frederick could not know that for sure.

 

Frederick and Lissa were making Chrom out to be a lovesick fool. He was not lovesick, but he guessed that part of it was his fault since he had once admitted to Lissa that he found Robin cute. And he guessed that he did talk about him a lot, almost gushing about him whenever he got the chance to. But it wasn’t anything major and shouldn’t be treated as such. Denying that Robin was incredibly pretty was not on Chrom’s agenda. If he saw someone that was pretty, he was going to say that they were pretty.

 

Denying the attraction would just make Chrom feel awkward around Robin.

 

Frederick didn’t say anything to Chrom, just sipping his coffee and staring at him over the mug. Chrom wondered if he should put in an ad for a new roommate. His phone interrupted that thought.

 

<< [10:53 AM] why did you send a picture of lucina at 5AM just captured ‘meow’

<< [10:53 AM] why were you even awake at that ungodly hour

 

Chrom had completely forgot that he had sent that to Robin. He almost jumped out of excitement when he saw the texts, replying to them quickly. Frederick muttered ‘like a dog’ under his breath. Chrom ignored him.

 

>> [10:55 AM] she woke me up and also who doesn’t need cute cat pictures to wake up to at five in the morning

 

<< [10:56 AM] chrom confirmed for furry

<< [10:57 AM] also snapchat exists for this very reason

 

>> [10:58 AM] i dont have a snapchat

 

<< [10:39 AM] youre an old man, my username is historicrobin

 

CHrom rolled his eyes are the username. What kind of username was that? Chrom wasn’t good at usernames either but really? Robin couldn’t have come up with anything better? He just downloaded the stupid app, adding Robin on it.

 

>> [11:04 AM] that username is dumb, i just added you 

 

<< [11:05 AM] “beanpaws”? you’re an actual cat lady

 

Chrom didn’t get the chance to reply with something witty and hilarious like he usually would. Robin had accepted his request and had sent him a snap as el. Chrom opened it, not sure what to expect. What he got was a picture of Robin and two black figures on top of him. Morrigan and Morgan looked like giant versions of those black fuzzy things from Spirited Away.

 

Chrom could only send a snap of him next to a napping Lucina in response. And if he replayed Robin’s snap and screenshotted it, no one saw or noticed. And no one could blame him either.

 

#

 

It honestly didn’t take to long till Robin and Chrom made plans to meet up again. Although they had been constantly texting and now snapchatting, they hadn’t really hung out face-to-face since that one time. It was less of a hang out this time and more of an excuse for Chrom to not study alone even if Robin and him had completely different majors.

 

Robin agreed, Chrom able to hear the smirk in his voice over the phone. Robin really had no good excuse for studying with him so Chrom just figured that he wanted an excuse to hang out without actually having to do anything. They agreed on Thursday night, which wasn’t far off. Chrom focused on making sure his part of the flat was tidy.

 

Frederick had a strict code when it came to anything. The man cleaned ritually, worked out on a schedule, had a job and still managed to do well in school. Chrom didn’t know how Frederick wasn’t dead. Chrom would be dead. Chrom  _ was _ dead with his own little schedule. Between work, the small amount of running he did in the mornings and school, Chrom found it hard to relax.

 

He was messier than he was in highschool, which probably annoyed Frederick to no end but Chrom couldn’t help it. Hell, he was amazed with himself for even getting half of the stuff he did done despite being unorganized and not nearly as efficient as Frederick was.

 

So, cleaning his own little area took longer than Chrom wanted it to. He had even vacuumed to reduce the risk of Robin going home with a complete cat on his pants and shirt. Admittedly, his little living space felt better and it was nice to have a clean space to sleep in and study in. Unfortunately he had racked up a mountain of laundry that he had to do. 

 

This left Chrom in a pair of grey joggers that he had worn for the past two days and some old shirt from high school when Robin came over.

 

He felt better about his lazy outfit when he saw that Robin looked just as much as a mess as he did. They both equally looked like messes, “Laundry day,” the white-haired man explained with a small shrug of his shoulders. Chrom just nodded in agreement. Even with Robin dressed in something just as raggedy as Chrom, he still found his new friend pretty.

 

So yes, maybe Chrom did lie Robin more than he let on but Lissa and Frederick still had the wrong ideas. Chrom wasn’t going to jump into a relationship with someone he still barely knows. And gis feelings were still primarily platonic towards Robin.

 

“Sit down on the couch if you wanna. Do you want anything to drink or something?” Chrom watched Robin sit on the couch, crossing his legs. He looked smaller for a moment, his toes wiggling just slightly. He reminded Chrom a bit of a child which was funny since despite the teasing and dry humor he had learned was a main trait of Robin’s, he held an air of maturity. 

 

“Nah, I’m good, thanks,” Robin smiled at Chrom and he couldn’t help but smile back. He took a seat next to Robin. The two didn’t talk much as they began to study.

 

#

 

“You have so many books to read, why do you have so many books to read?” Chrom slumped against his couch, staring at Robin. The man didn’t bring the books he needed to read but had shared with Chrom the list he had.

 

“Well, I mean, I am a history major,” Robin replied, as if that explained everything. Chrom blinked at him and Robin sighed, looking up from where he was playing with a sleeping Lucina’s paws. “Beeecaaause being a history major is a lot harder than it looks. I mean, archival research sounded fun at first but now it’s amazing and totally not boring at all,” sarcasm dripped off of Robin’s words.

 

Chrom snorted, he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing anymore. Neither was Robin. The white-haired had gotten distracted by Lucina when she decided to curl up near him awhile ago. “Sounds fun,” Robin gave Chrom a look. Whether it was of amusement or slight annoyance was a blur, since he looked like a mix between the two. 

 

“It’s a lot of fun,” Robin kept pressing softly on the soft paw that was laid in front of him. Lucina stirred, if only for a moment. She blinked slowly at Robin before going back to sleep, a small purr being the only noise she made. “I’m surprise she’s letting me touch her, usually cats attack me when I get within like ten feet of them.”

 

Chrom just hummed, “Don’t fall for her false sweetness. She does this with every new person.”

 

Lucina was a soft cat who loved to curl up beside you when she was comfortable with you. If she wasn’t comfortable with you she would pretend to be just to bite you. Honestly Chrom did not understand his cat at all.

 

“Does what?” Robin looked up at from her paw. “She’s being sweet, if she wanted to attack me or something she would have done it alrea- Ow!” Robin drew his hand away from Lucina, a look of betrayal on his face. 

 

“She bit me,” his voice was soft.

 

“She does it to everyone who’s new,” Chrom was watching Robin and Lucina interact with amusement. “Sorry about that, does it hurt badly? Sometimes she breaks skin,” he reached for Robin’s hand to see if she had this time.

 

Robin just shook his head, “No, I’m fine, thanks.” He inspected his hand. “Has she really broken skin before?”

 

“Yeah. Sometimes she bites me to feed her and I had this huge bruise on my cheekbone for a week because of her,” Chrom sighed out of annoyance. At least Lucina was a quiet cat, he wouldn’t be able to handle her yowling and biting. Robin looked at him with some sympathy. 

 

“Morrigan and Morgan jump on the bed and lick my face so I can walk them, sometimes they go to Gaius. Gaius in the morning is not a pretty sight,” Chrom could only just nod his head in sympathy as well.

 

They spent awhile just talking about nonsense things and not studying at all. When it was time for Robin to take his leave, he still went home with a whole cat on his clothing. Chrom wished him luck on getting any cat fur out of his clothing now.

 

#

 

A day later, Chrom found himself stuck doing laundry while face-timing Lissa. She was talking about some cadaver lab that she had done recently. Chrom was trying his best to not imagine it despite the incredible detail that Lissa was telling him. “It smelled so gross Chrom! You had to be there to relish in how freaking gross it was,” the camera wasn’t focused on Lissa’s face but Chrom was able to imagine her bright blue eyes widening as she told him about her lab.

 

Lissa had always been squeamish when it came to anything gross. This left him as the one killing bugs. And if he was there, Frederick would be sent on killing the creepy crawlers. “Do I really need to hear every detail about your lab? Cause I would prefer not,” Chrom  slipped his phone into his pocket, trapping Lissa in darkness for a brief moment while he moved his wet clothes to the dryer. 

 

Once he finished with that, he let his sister out of his pocket. Her face was on screen. “Fine,” she said with a resigned sigh. “What have you been up to lately?” there was a pencil in her blonde curls. 

 

Chrom hoisted himself up on a folding station. “Working and studying mainly.”

 

“Gross,” Lissa stuck her tongue out like a child. Chrom nodded in agreement.

 

“Super gross, but besides that I’ve been sleeping and hanging out with the occasional friend.”

 

“‘Occasional friend’? You can just say Robin since you gush about him all the time,” Lissa giggled.

  
“I do not gush,” Chrom ignored the small amount of heat rising to his cheeks. He was pretty sure he heard Lissa say ‘liar’ when she coughed into her hand.


	4. Noses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Near the end of this chapter Chrom gets roofied. Nothing happens pass that, however I am just giving a warning.

Being in college meant that you were required to stay in a frat house and go to parties. Or at least most of the movies would have you believe that. Most college students just tended to sleep whenever they could and only really had parties if one of their teams won a big game or something. And then of course there were frat houses that had kegsters.

Robin still hadn’t bothered to attend anything at all.

Gaius, on the other hand, went to the occasional party and surprisingly dragged Libra along (which Robin didn’t understand how, since Libra went to a different school, but it was Gaius). It was mainly because Libra was the most responsible of the two, he often helped a drunk Gaius find his way to his bedroom.

Tonight seemed to be one of those nights. Robin watched as Gaius pressed kisses to Libra’s face who had his arm wrapped around the ginger. “Liiibbrrrraaa, you’re so-” hic “-you’re so cuteeeeeeee,” Gaius’ voice was laced and heavy with alcohol and Libra just pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Need any help?” Robin was already sitting up. He set down the book he was reading. Libra shook his head.

“I can take care of this grown baby,” Libra seemed to have no problem with carrying his boyfriend, who was giggly and kept getting distracted by the dogs (“Oh my god, Bubbles, since when did we have dogs? Libra, look at the dogs!”). Robin just wondered what party they went to. 

It was probably some Halloween party, but most of those happened on, well, Halloween. Not two days before the holiday. But there had also been a game recently for one of the sports teams that they won, so he supposed that was what the party was for. “You have fun with that, I’ll get you guys the water,” Robin set his book down and stood up. 

“Get us some bread too,” he heard Libra from Gaius’ room. He also heard Libra mutter something under his breath, cursing Gaius over something. Maybe he found yet another batch of candy that Gaius was hoarding. 

Robin got them some crackers (they needed to go food shopping and for some reason had no bread) and glasses of water for the two. He didn’t know if Libra had anything to drink but he still had to offer some of it to him. Just in case he had and didn’t want to have a bad hangover or just wanted to sober up a bit.

Robin went to Gaius’ room where the ginger was already pulling his boyfriend down to cuddle. “Gaius, get under the covers, you’re going to get cold later,” there was some flush to Libra’s face but Robin didn’t know what from. He just put the crackers and water on the bedside table. Gaius let out a whiny noise, mumbling something about being warm. He was already down in his underwear but Robin only shook his head.  
“I’ll leave you to him,” Robin thanked the Gods everyday that Libra had showed up in his life. As much as he loved Gaius, he didn’t think that he would manage with him if Libra wasn’t here. 

Robin decided to resettle on the couch with his book. There were papers to be written even when his drunk roommate was whining in the background.

 

─────────────────

“Do you want to go to a Halloween party with me?” Robin shifted the phone between his ear and shoulder, humming slightly at the offer. “I mean, you’ll have to get a costume and all that, but I think it’ll be fun,” Chrom sounded so excited about the prospect of going to a party. It would be really hard to say no to him, so Robin just sighed.

“Yeah, that sounds fun. I don’t really know what I’ll go as, though. Especially on such short notice,” almost as soon as he said that Gaius was sliding out of his room and looking at Robin.

“Party?” Robin wondered how Gaius heard him and if his life was suddenly becoming a sitcom.

“Uh, yeah, Chrom says there’s a Halloween party and invited me to go with him.”

“Is Gaius planning on going, too? I might drag Frederick along, lord knows he needs to get out more,” Chrom laughed on the other line.

“Knowing Gaius, he’ll be going,” he wasn’t sure how he felt about Frederick still, mainly because he had seen the brunette a handful of times and Frederick had a permanent scowl on his face whenever he saw Robin.

“Hell yeah, I’m going, Libra won’t be able to tag along though,” Gaius sighed with pure melodramatic tone. “But, costumes,” Gaius clapped his hands together. “Robin, you suck at these types of things, so we need to figure out your costume for you. Give me your phone, I wanna talk to Chrom.”

Gaius all but tackled him and again, Robin wondered when his life became a sitcom. Morrigan looked up from where she was laying as the ginger wrestled Robin’s phone out of his hand. Robin let Gaius take the phone, watching as he talked to Chrom on the other end about the party and wondering if they were going to do a group costume on such a short notice. 

Robin just pet his dogs.

─────────────────

“No, Gaius.”  
“I’m just saying that dressing up as a giant penis is less tasteful than you think it is,” Gaius huffed just slightly.

“I’m not going with any of your options,” Robin shook his head. Gaius had suggested things that weren’t safe for work or related to candy. Not that Robin had any better ideas, and Chrom wouldn’t tell Robin his costume for whatever reason. In Robin’s opinion, they were taking this too seriously.

“But Bubbles, you could’ve have been the clitoris for the vagina one.”

“How about I just figure out my own costume, okay?” Robin bit his lower lip out of slight annoyance, wringing his hands through his hair. His hair was already dyed white so if he went gray early because of Gaius so no one would notice.

“Ugh, fine Bubbles. You’re no fun at all,” Gaius flopped down on the floor and exited the tab of halloween costumes that he had been looking at. Robin rolled his eyes. He’ll figure out the costume before the party, he’ll make sure that he had a costume in time. 

─────────────────

Robin did figure out a costume in time for the party. It was a long, dark purple coat that had a hood and some symbols on it. He was wearing gloves and a plain white shirt and black jeans on it. It wasn’t anything that was super out there or could be registered as a costume without the coat but it was enough. Gaius only grunted when he saw Robin and Robin figured he was disappointed that he wasn’t dressed as something hot or amusing.

Gaius on the other hand was dressed in the slave costume that Leia had worn in Star Wars. “You're going to be cold,” Robin pointed out. He looked over his friend for a moment and went to grab Gaius a jacket. It was already cold outside.

“It'll be worth it,” Gaius grinned at Robin. “And I have tights on, they're sheer though.” 

He rolled his eyes but decided that he wasn't going to try and pick a fight about it. As long as Gaius was comfortable, he supposed. “Chrom said he was gonna drive us,” Robin was honestly wondering what his costume was. Chrom hadn't really told him yet expect that it had to do with sports. Which wasn't really useful to Robin (although he wanted to see Chrom in baseball pants, just because he wanted to have a friendship before anything else didn't mean that Robin disapproved of seeing Chrom in tight pants).

“Sweet, is he our DD?”

“I think his friend Frederick is.”

“Freddy bear,” Robin heard Gaius mutter. 

“Don't call him that,” Robin wasn't sure how the older man would respond to a nickname like that. Gaius just shrugged in response and Robin set to work at texting Chrom that he and Gaius were ready. It took three minutes for Chrom to respond;

>> [9:10 PM] on our way! :-)

Robin didn't respond, just pocketing his phone and looking at Gaius who was making sure that his nipples weren't exposed. “It's already cold,” Gaius seemed to be annoyed by this. Robin just shook his head and began to pull on his shoes. 

“Are you going to wear sandals?” Robin asked Gaius who nodded. He held up a pair of gold slippers and Robin shook his head, a small smile on his face. At least Gaius won't have to face the awkwardness of having shoes that don't match your costume. 

“Where are the pups?” Gaius looked around, neither Morrigan nor Morgan were in the regular spots.

“I was going to put them in their kennels but Cordelia is watching them for me.”

“Awe, Cordelia Smith not coming?”

“You have the worst nicknames, and no, she's not.”

“Listen, it fits. She's a domestic goddess, okay?” Robin rolled his eyes and just laid on the floor as they waited for Chrom. 

There was a brief moment of silence before Robin’s phone started to ring. He picked it up fast enough to make Gaius snicker, “Hey.” He greeted Chrom and ignored Gaius.

“Hey! We’re downstairs,” Robin was already moving to get up. He nodded before remembering that Chrom couldn't see him on the other line.

“On our way.” Robin grabbed his keys and hung up, throwing a jacket at Gaius as he walked out of the apartment.

“We forgot pre-party shots!”

─────────────────

The car ride to the party was short, but it felt awkward to Robin. Chrom was wearing a basketball uniform with some reference that Robin didn't get (Chrom promised to show him the movie) and Frederick was a lazy pirate. But it was still a costume, so no one could really ride on him for it.

Frederick took awhile to find parking but once he was done, they entered the party and were instantly hit by the loud music. It had been awhile since Robin attended a party and he felt a bit dazed when he got inside. 

Almost instantly Gaius was shoving a cup in his hand which he slowly sipped on for a while. It didn't take long for some girl to grab Robin’s hand and begin chatting him up and dancing with him either. She had long dark hair and seemed to glare at everyone as they passed by them or if they got in their space while they were dancing.

Robin was way too sober for this, admittedly just kind of bouncing there awkwardly. “Excuse me,” he had to lean down to talk to the woman who seemed less than pleased that he was leaving. Robin just went to get himself another drink. 

Another cup and he was feeling a buzz. Not much, but enough to make him feel looser. The girl found him again and took him by the hand this time. He didn't know her name still but she was dressed in something that looked similar to Gaius’ costume, but with sheer fishnets covering some of her skin.

Robin danced with her. Not very good since they both seemed to be awkward at this, and she seemed to be having less fun than everyone else there. Even with the alcohol in his blood, Robin could tell that they were probably the most awkward pair dancing. At least Robin was having enough fun for the two of them. “My name is Tharja,” the girl was finally speaking to him while they went to get drinks.

It was a name that strangely fit her. “Robin,” he grinned at her. She gave him a shaky smile back, as if the muscles in her face weren't used to making such an action. The shaky smile fell when Robin felt someone tap his shoulder.

He turned around, seeing Gaius who looked strangely grim. “What's wrong?” Robin furrowed his eyebrows.

“Chrom. Some idiot snuck something in his drink,” Gaius was already pulling him in the direction of Chrom.

“Is he okay?” Robin hoped that was as far as the situation got.

“Nauseous and fuzzy, but fine. Frederick is chewing out the girl who tried to drug him. He’s with some girl named Sumia. Apparently she's a close friend of theirs,” Gaius still sounded unsure when he said her name. They got to Chrom, a brunette was with him, giving him concerned and almost loving looks. Robin shrugged off Chrom and went up to him.

He glanced around and saw Frederick making some girl almost cry, he suspected that was the drugger. He grabbed Chrom’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, wanting to hear how Chrom felt despite what Gaius told him.

“Dizzy,” Chrom leaned a bit on the girl Robin guessed was Sumia. 

“Did someone call campus security?” They were at a first house so technically they should have responded. Sumia nodded.

“Yes, they said they’ll be coming soon,” her voice was barely hearable over the noises of the party. At that Robin nodded, waiting with Chrom, Sumia and Gaius. Frederick finished talking to the girl, scowling as they all waited.

When the security arrived Robin felt relieved and ready to go home. It seemed to take forever while they were talking to them and there didn't really seem to be anything for them to do since they believed that Chrom was just drunk. 

They all went home angry that night.


	5. Claws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I don't know if it is safe to consume painkillers or any other drugs after being roofied. Neither does Chrom. But Chrom is kind of stupid.
> 
> Also I never really thank my editor on here but thanks to my bro Morgan, one of my best bros. They're a real one

Waking up the next morning was a painful act. Chrom barely remembered anything from the night before. All he remembered was being at the party and Frederick and Gaius talking to him.

Thinking about it, the E.R. was probably the best place for Chrom to go, but he honestly did not like going to the hospital. So he was more than fine with being at home. He knew that Frederick was probably checking his vitals every fifteen minutes.

Unless he was at the hospital. Chrom didn’t remember anything. He did remember the flashes of blue and red but that was about it.

The massive headache behind his eyes made him close them again. The sun was leaking into his room and behind his eyelids. Chrom shifted, opening his eyes slowly, squinting at his bedside table. His arm was splayed out in front of him and he could see a wristband there. Ah, so he had been taken to the hospital.

He wondered if Frederick was sleeping in that morning or if he had decided to go and work out at five in the morning and then go and do whatever it was that Frederick did while Chrom was sleeping.

There was a cup of water, but no painkillers.

Was he allowed to take painkillers? Looking at his phone screen hurt but he reached for it and almost slid it off of the bedside table. There were fifteen texts from Robin alone, five from Gaius.

They were all texts that expressed concerned about him. Lissa left him five voicemails. He flopped onto his bed and regretted it because there was a sharp pain from the back of his head. Chrom ignored the texts in favor of looking through Google for whether or not he was allowed to take an Advil.

There was no decided answer online so Chrom just decided to take one. His head was heavy and he just wanted the pounding headache behind his eyes to go away. It took a moment but he dragged himself out of bed, grabbing a pair of sunglasses from his drawer and a hoodie. He pulled the hoodie on and placed the sunglasses on his face.

His entire body felt heavy as he dragged himself over to the medicine cabinet and dug out the painkillers. He was gripping a bottle of water a little too tightly in his hand as he swallowed two of them, not taking more just in case there were any negative repercussions.

The house was empty and he was a bit grateful for Frederick’s disappearance. His phone rang and he looked down at it despite the fact that he still had a headache. The sunglasses helped and he saw it was Frederick calling him.

Chrom answered the phone, of course. Frederick would kill him if he didn’t. “Hello.” His voice was scratchy and deeper than usual.

“You should call Lissa.”

“I will, but what do you need? Also, I took some aspirin but I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not--” Chrom was quickly cut off.

“You took aspirin?!”

“Yeah? I mean, my headache was really bad, Fred.”

“You should have called Lissa to make sure that it was safe!”

“I looked it up online but I didn’t receive any answer…. Probably should have called Lissa. If I die within the next hour please make sure that my grave firmly states how attractive I am.” Chrom runs his hand through his hair even though Frederick couldn’t see.

Frederick didn’t respond for a moment. “Call your sister. And Robin.” Frederick hung up without another word. He was never one for conversation.

Chrom let out a long sigh and went to get a glass of orange juice. He dialed Lissa’s number as he did, and it only took two rings until her high-pitched voice was screaming in his ear. “Chrom! Chrom, are you okay! Are you alive?”

“I’m alive. Please stop yelling, my head is pounding. Also, do you think that that I’m allowed to take aspirin after what happened?”

“I don’t think you’re allowed.”

“Too late.”

“Chrom!” Lissa sounded exasperated. “I called Emm but she’s sick again so I don’t know how long it will be until she responds.” Those words made Chrom wish he was closer to Emmeryn and Lissa. “But after last night I think it’s better that way. She’ll get too stressed…” Lissa trailed off. “Anyways, Chrom. How do you feel?”

“Dizzy, sick, usually how I feel when I’m hungover but ten times worse. Kind of like I got hit over the head with a brick, and my mouth tastes like sawdust,” Chrom admitted to her.

Lissa hummed. “Chrom.” She sounded both worried and annoyed.

“I know, I know. And I don’t drink often! Promise,” he murmured.

“I’m not worried about the drinking, although you are nineteen,” she murmured a bit. “But I’m just scared that you’re really hurt.”

“I’m okay, but I have to go.”

Lissa whined. “Call me later. I love you.”

“Tell Emm I said hi, love you too,” he whispered to his sister. She made a noncommittal noise and he hung up with her. Chrom called Robin next, and assumed he was probably up. The guy always got up extremely early.

It took about three rings before Robin picked up. “Chrom? Are you okay? How do you feel?” His voice was a lot more collected and calm in comparison to Lissa’s.

“I just have a major headache but it's fading because I took an aspirin. I'm still really dizzy though, and I don’t remember most of last night.” Chrom took a sip of orange juice and was glad he didn’t brush his teeth beforehand. That would make it disgusting.

There was a pause from Robin. “You took an aspirin?”

“Yes?”

“Are you allowed to do that?”

“I don’t know? I looked it up everywhere and asked Lissa but she didn’t really say anything,” Chrom ran a hand through his hair. “Did you just wake up?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Your voice is deeper than usual.” Wow, that sounded weird. Did that sound gay? He was slightly hoping it did. “Not that it’s bad or anything, you sound fine. You sound normal and stuff, but still.”

Robin snorted on the other end. “Thanks?”

“Anyways, why’d you sleep in so late? You’re usually up at, like, seven.”

“Eight,” Robin corrected as if it mattered. “I don’t sleep much, but apparently my body thought that two drinks was pushing the limit. And I slept in. It felt nice, actually. Not really used to it though, so I feel pretty weird.”

Chrom hummed, grabbing his orange juice and making his way over to the couch. Lucina jumped into his lap and began to purr loudly.

“But I had to get up around nine because Gaius sleeps like a rock and I have two other children that need my help.” He heard Robin making kissy noises to Morrigan or Morgan on the other line, or both.

“Kiss their wet little noses for me.”

Robin snorted again. “I wouldn’t say little, but I will. Tell Lucina I bow to her.” It was Chrom’s turn to snort this time.

Chrom poked the cat in the side and she meowed loudly, looking up at him before standing up on her hind legs. She pressed her paws against his chest. “Robin said he bows to you.”

When Lucina went to meow Chrom placed the phone near her mouth. He heard Robin laughing on the other line and smiled. They were still building a friendship, but Gods, was he cute.

“Did you hear that? She said that it was good that you bowed to her, but don’t say that often, her head might get bigger than it already is.” Chrom scratched the cat behind the ears and she began to purr loudly.

“She deserves it.”

Chrom let out a yawn. “Do you wanna hang out again sometime soon?”

“When you’re not risking the chance of almost dying, sure. Obviously not today. The doctors said you might still feel after-effects.”

“I don’t remember anything from the doctors,” Chrom admitted to him. He shifted and Lucina made a huffy noise in protest.

“Right, you were really out of it. Like super out it, it was really funny, but also sort of scary,” Robin confessed to him. “Not much happened. The doctors couldn’t do a lot and they just made sure you weren’t going to die. Frederick took you home around four in the morning, I think? I helped him, but I don’t remember much past getting you home.”

“Wait, you didn’t mention that you didn’t go to bed till that late. Also, Frederick hasn’t been home all mornin--” Suddenly, Frederick came in through the door. “Oh. He’s here. But still, I don’t understand where he went and why he left so early.” Chrom followed the other man with his eyes.

“I’ll probably nap later. I’ll let you go so you can talk to Frederick. Bye Chrom, write me later.” Robin hung up quicker than he could.

“Where were you?” Chrom looked at Frederick, who was staring at him from the kitchen doorway.

“I went out for a run.”

“It’s almost eleven.”

Frederick shrugged. “I ran later than usual. I slept for a few hours, then went for a run. I wish I could have weight lifted but I was worried for you, and it’s better I don’t weight lift after the lack of sleep I got.” Frederick did not look any different at all and didn’t seem tired. “I would take a nap but that wouldn’t be productive. So, get up from the couch. We’re going to clean.”

Chrom groaned, “Let me brush my teeth first.”

“Take a shower as well,” Frederick called after him as he left for the restroom.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

When Chrom was finished with showering and brushing his teeth, he cleaned with Frederick. The two of them cleaned the entire house and afterwards Chrom was so exhausted he went to his bed. Frederick was in the kitchen making himself a meal fit for five people and Chrom just burrowed underneath his covers.

He dug out his phone and began to text Robin.

u still awake

_unfortunately yes, why?_

That was fast.

 good aftern(ight)oon

_nerd_

_have a good nap chrom :)_

 


	6. Ears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im runnin out of chapter names kill me

After the roofie scare, Robin had been incredibly anxious and in turn, threw himself into his studying. He made sure to constantly contact Chrom through the phone but they never really agreed to any plans to meet up. It was only midway through the semester but he was still getting ready for finals as if they were coming up tomorrow. 

 

“Bubbles,” Gaius said, flopping into his lap and bending the page that Robin had been reading.

 

Robin sighed. “Gaius, get off. I need to read and annotate this.” He was wrinkling the page on how Ylisse became well known for their diplomatic ways and their open policy on anyone who ran to their city, and also how that had gotten them into trouble plenty of times.

 

“Blegh. You need to annotate this, you need to annotate that. God, you haven’t stepped outside for a week.” Gaius pinched at his skin and Robin swatted his hand away.

 

Of course Gaius was exaggerating. “I have been outside. I went grocery shopping remember?” He looked down at his ginger room mate, slipping his book out from underneath Gaius’ head. It fell in his lap and Robin just positioned his book over Gaius’ face. 

 

“That was, like, a week ago.” Gaius got out of his lap, frowning at him. “You’re so boring. Have you even talked to your boyfriend recently?”

 

“I don’t-- Chrom and I are just friends, Gaius. I’ve texted with him.” Robin shrugged and shifted on the couch. He curled up with his book, looking over at Gaius and seeing that he was pouting at his feet. “I have texted him, alright? It’s not like I’m ignoring anyone, I’ve just been busy.”

 

“Studying for tests that aren’t even going on,” Gaius grumbled as he flopped against the couch. “Also, we haven’t hung out since the Halloween party and you’re one of those people who blame themselves for everything, so I’m worried about you blaming yourself about what happened to Blue.” Gaius looked over at Robin, staring at him as if he was staring into his soul.

 

Robin stared at Gaius for a moment and sometimes he forgot that Gaius actually knew him. “I’m not blaming myself for that.” He had stopped blaming himself after a bit more than a week, which was a record for him. “I’m just tired and I want to study.” A small huff came from Morgan, who was curled up as he slept. 

 

Robin reached down, scratching the top of his head. “Besides, I have the right to hide inside of my house.” Not to mention Grima kept texting him and he wanted to avoid his twin brother like he was the plague. The two didn’t talk much, but apparently the asshole wanted to visit.

 

Naturally, Robin ignored his requests. He didn’t want him anywhere near where he lived. The last time he visited had turned into a disaster. He could ignore his brother for a while, considering the fact that Grima was constantly busy and Robin was also constantly busy. 

 

“But hiding inside the house is borrrinng. You should hang out with me and Libra, and invite Blue,” Gaius suggested, looking at Robin and not blinking as he said this.

 

“Fine,” Robin agreed. “You have to organize everything, though, and when you have the details I’ll ask Chrom if he wants to tag along.”

 

“Done. Libra’s school is having an art gallery and it’s supposedly interactive and is a ton of fun to go to. We went last year.” Gaius had a proud smirk on his face. “It’s Sunday, we can go at twelve or something. There’s this event that Libra wants to see. He says it has renaissance style art, but I don’t really know, though. Those are the details you can text Blue. We can carpool.”

 

“Sunday is tomorrow. This is pretty last minute.”

 

“Yeah, so? Also, casual fancy. Like, look like you’re trying, but not really.” Gaius got up and went to the kitchen, leaving no room for Robin to argue unless he wanted to yell. Morrigan jumped on the couch and took Gaius’ spot with Robin shoving his feet underneath her so that he could warm them up.

 

Chrom had actually sent him a text recently. It was just a picture of Lucina and the caption ‘can i make this a meme’. It made Robin smile wider than he should have.

 

<< [1:00 PM] hey you want to go to an art gallery at Gaius’ bf’s school?

<< [1:00 PM] maybe ask Frederick if he wants to come too

 

>> [1;04 PM] omg youre alive

>> [1:04 PM] i’ll ask him but i’ll come!

>> [1:06 PM] ok i asked him and he said he already has something planned

 

<< [1:06 PM] alright cool! We’re thinking of carpooling (warning though, gaius will be flirting with his boyfriend the entire time and he can get gross)

 

>> [1:07 PM] i don’t trust gaius driving, i can pick you up though

 

Before agreeing, Robin got up. He ignored the whine from Morrigan and went to Gaius. “Chrom says that he wants to pick me up since I told him that you will be flirting with Libra and he’s scared of your driving, apparently.”

 

“Maybe he just wants to be alone with you,” Gaius chirped, wiggling his eyebrows. Robin resisted the urge to hit him.

 

<< [1:14 PM] sounds fine by me

 

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁   
  


Gaius was trying to see how many pieces of chocolate he could fit into his pocket along with the ten (at least Robin counted ten) lollipops he had stuck in there. Robin watched him, sitting on the stoop of their apartment building as Gaius struggled a little. He scratched the inside of his wrist, feeling weird.

 

He didn’t know why he felt weird. It wasn’t like he was nervous about going to a gallery. For some reason, being alone with Chrom was making him feel weird. It wasn’t the first time they were alone, so he didn’t know why this was suddenly weird to him. He tried to brush it off and instead focused back onto Gaius. They were waiting for Chrom since Gaius was going to lead him to Libra’s house where they were picking up Libra and then leading Chrom to the gallery.

 

Honestly, the carpooling would have been more efficient in his opinion, but he didn’t really want to argue or have Gaius think anything weirder than he was thinking at the moment. Eventually he saw Chrom’s car approaching and stood up. Gaius lifted his head when he saw the car approaching, too. 

 

“Hey. Blue,” Gaius greeted him with a nod of his head. Chrom smiled at him.

 

“Hey,” he greeted back before looking at Robin. “You guys ready to go?” His eyes were still on Robin even though the question was directed to both of them. He finally looked away from Robin and looked at Gaius.

 

“Just follow me, buddy,” Gaius told him, patting Chrom’s back before going over to his own car. 

 

Robin didn’t really say anything as he followed Chrom to his car. He still felt weird and he felt even weirder inside of Chrom’s car and he didn’t know why. When he was in the car he turned to the other and smiled slightly. “Thanks for offering your car up as a sacrifice.”

 

“You’re saying that driving you is a chore,” Chrom snorted.

 

“Well, I don’t know. I can be a backseat driver, or maybe I have misplaced road rage.” Robin had relaxed a little. 

 

“I guess we’ll just have to find out and see, but I doubt that you’ll be the one guy who sits in the passenger side and argues with everyone who cuts us off.” Chrom hadn’t start driving yet because he was looking at his phone as he began to chose something for them to listen to.

 

Robin watched before moving closer. “Let me choose the music.”

 

“You’re right, driving you is going to be a chore.” Chrom moved his phone closer to himself. Robin rolled his eyes.

 

“Let me choose. You’re going to be driving, so let me be your co-pilot and let me choose the music.” Robin opened his hand towards Chrom and Chrom hesitated before letting his phone drop into Robin’s hand.

  
He began to drive, following Gaius closely as Robin put on some music for the ride.


	7. Toe Beans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are slowly getting bigger

Sitting in the car alone with Robin wasn’t awkward at all even though the two of them weren’t really talking. Every now and then, Chrom would glance over at Robin, who was leaning his head against the window. There was some indie song playing from his phone and he guessed that Robin just put on a random playlist.

“I’m rolling down my window,” was the first thing Robin had said to him besides ‘hi’. Chrom nodded his head and Robin rolled down his window, while Chrom rolled down one of the back windows in order to create a flow in the car. “How do you feel?” Robin asked him after a moment of silence. The wind was rushing around them and his bangs flew up. Chrom spared a glance away from Gaius to Robin.

“I’m feeling all right. I’m just tired, with all of the studying I’ve been having to do lately. I don’t feel weird, though, if you’re concerned about the whole… incident.” Chrom wasn’t sure what Robin was referring to, exactly, so he trusted him and hoped that he got what he was implying. Robin, of course, was incredibly sharp and did understand what he was implying.

There was a pregnant pause before anyone spoke again. “I have been worried about you. I’m sorry for not checking in on you more.” The apology earn a snort from Chrom, and Robin gave him a dirty look. Chrom shrugged, glancing at Robin for a moment and then looking back at the road. They were pulling into the town so that they could pick up Gaius’ boyfriend (his name was Libra, Chrom reminded himself). “Chrom?” Robin sounded testy as he waited for the other to answer him.

“Don’t apologize for anything. We’re both busy people and I didn’t expect you to become like Frederick and obsessively check over me,” Chrom told him, glancing over at Robin once they were parked. The two of them were silent again and Robin reached out towards him with his hand. Chrom stared at the hand for a moment, not sure what he was offering.

Robin nodded. “Right. Okay then.” He placed his hand down and didn’t say anything. Chrom wasn’t sure what had just happened but he glanced over at Robin for a moment. It was creepy, but he tended to just stare at Robin, mainly because the shock of white hair combined with his vitiligo attracted Chrom’s eyes. Not in a negative way, he liked to just stare at Robin.

That was creepy. Chrom could admit that was creepy.

There was so much more silence between them now and the two of them just sat there until Gaius began to drive again. Robin curled up in his chair, placing his feet on the dashboard. Chrom didn’t say anything, he just drove.   
─────────────────  
They eventually got to the gallery, but the two of them were still pretty quiet. For a moment they just sat in the car until Robin looked over at him. “How many elitists do you think we’re going to see?” Robin’s words made Chrom realize that he probably looked like one of those elitists compared to Robin. The two of them looked nice, but even so, Chrom had a kind face and some people could probably smell the privilege right off of him.

“So many,” Chrom answered, giving him a smile that Robin easily returned. The two of them got out of the car to join their friends.

Gaius and Libra were standing and waiting for them. Gaius had his arm around Libra, nuzzling his hair while searching the bag Libra had for something sweet to eat, no doubt. “Are you two ready to go inside?” Libra asked, amazing Chrom yet again with how soft his voice was. “Gaius, stop digging my bag.” He swatted at Gaius’ hand and pulled out a chocolate bar. Gaius took it happily, still keeping his hold on Libra.

“Yeah, we’re ready,” Robin said, answering for both of them. Their arms were brushing but neither of them made any moves to do anything more. They followed Gaius and Libra inside the gallery with Gaius still clinging to Libra like a leech. Libra didn’t seem to mind or care that much, and Chrom noted in the back of his mind he didn’t really notice Libra or Robin touching.

Which made sense, of course, since they were just friends, but the two of them didn’t hug in greeting. Maybe Robin wasn’t an affectionate person with everyone? He seemed okay with Chrom, though.

Chrom brushed it off as they entered the gallery. There were several people that looked like Chrom in the whole ‘possible rich douche’ vibe, but otherwise everyone seemed to be college students who were exploring to take notes or just to look at some nice art.

The art was primarily abstract and it wasn’t bad at all, but Chrom couldn’t really be the judge of good art. He didn’t really understand the techniques and concept that went into art no matter how many thing Emm showed him. She liked art and eagerly showed both him and Lissa favorite pieces and explained the processes behind them, but he just never could really understand it. Call him a stereotype if you will.

“Hey, look at that one,” Robin murmured, nudging him in the side to get his attention. Chrom glanced over at what he was talking about. “It’s pretty,” Robin whispered to him again. Chrom stared at it and tried to figure out what it was supposed to be before realizing that abstract art isn’t really any specific shape, because then that defeated the purpose of it being abstract, right?

The painting was pretty. The colors were nice and seemed to blend together effortlessly. He could see why Robin liked it. Robin’s attention was pulled away from the painting as he looked around and Chrom had the urge to snap a picture of his face as he stared at things that caught his attention.

They walked around the gallery a bit longer, enjoying the art the best they could. Libra had walked away at some point, scribbling on his notepad. Gaius had wandered off somewhere but Chrom wasn’t about to take responsibility of him.

“Hey, Blue.” Gaius’ voice drew his attention away from Robin, who was busy going towards a wall-sized painting. “Check this out.”

“What’s up?”

“They have wine,” Gaius whispered, grinning. “Or is it champagne? Also, they don’t card! Not that it matters. You look old enough, anyways.”

Chrom blinked at him. “I’m driving, Gaius.” He glanced around, seeing Libra and Robin talking about something.

“You know Bubbles can drive, right?” Chrom wondered why he just used nicknames rather than their actual names, but then realized he didn’t care that much.

“Can he?” Gaius blinked at him slowly for a moment, like he was stupid. “I’ve never seen him drive before.”

“Robin has his license, dude. He can drive just fine. Drives like someone who’s being watched by an instructor, but otherwise he’s perfectly all right.” Chrom was beginning to feel even more stupid. “He just doesn’t drive because his last car got totaled by some asshole driver.” Gaius swirled the champagne around in his glass. Since when was he holding a drink?

“Oh.” Chrom didn’t say anything else after that just in case anything else moronic slipped out. While he was staring intently at a namecard next to a painting, Robin went back over to him, tugging his sleeve a little.

Robin looked over at Gaius, still gripping Chrom’s sleeve. “Libra wants to talk to you. Something about whether or not you’re taking him out for dinner.” Gaius nodded and went over to his boyfriend, a smile on his face the entire time. Robin looked up at Chrom next. “Do you want to sleep over tonight? I doubt Gaius will be coming home, and even if he was I doubt that he would mind you staying the night.”

That surprised Chrom, since he didn’t really expect for Robin to invite him over but he guessed that he couldn’t be super upset. He could cuddle with the dogs. “Sure, I’ll just have to text Frederick but I’m down for a sleepover,” Chrom said, nodding, and Robin smiled at him.

“Cool. Let’s keep looking around. We might as well stick around until Libra and Gaius leave.” Chrom nodded wordlessly in agreement, then resorted to following Robin around like a lost puppy.  
─────────────────  
By the end of the night Chrom was sleepier than he thought he would be. Robin was still in the passenger side of the car, glancing out the window as the streetlights flew by. There was a different soft indie song playing from Chrom’s phone, occasionally interrupted by a voice giving out directions to Robin’s apartment.

They got there eventually, but the two of them were exhausted at this point. “I have to walk the dogs really quick. Do you want to come with? It’ll be a quick walk; just something to make sure that they’re okay through the night.” Robin looked over at him expectantly as they parked.

“Can I walk Morrigan?”

“Yeah, sure.” Chrom followed Robin up the stairs to his apartment. Robin fished through his pocket for his keys, then opened the door.

At the sound of the two of them, the dogs started to wag their tails from where they were kept in the kennels. Robin let them out and waited until they calmed down a little bit before giving them the attention they wanted. Morrigan was harder to calm than Morgan; she kept just jumping and let out little excited yips. “Can you get me their leashes?” He asked Chrom, gesturing over to the hook near the key holder.

Chrom nodded and handed him the leashes. Robin kneeled down and clicked the leashes onto their collars, talking to them quietly. “Here’s your girl,” he jokingly told Chrom as he handed him Morrigan’s leash.

“Yes, she is. She’s my good girl, isn’t she, my good girl,” Chrom cooed at Morrigan, who then placed her paws on his thighs.

“Morrigan, down,” Robin scolded her and the dog did as she was told, tail wagging happily. They were quiet as they left the apartment, the dogs being led by them. Walking dogs in the middle of the night was not something he wanted to be doing. Chrom would rather sleep.

The whole event felt odd and surreal to Chrom. He liked the feeling, liked the way that Morrigan and Morgan looked walking in the middle of the night.

When they returned to the apartment, the dogs went and curled up in their dedicated spots after Robin had taken off their leashes. “I’m going to go and shower. I have clothes that you can wear if you want.”

“That’ll be nice, thanks,” Chrom said, stretching out his arms as Robin went and fetched Chrom his clothing. While he went and showered, Chrom changed, settling down on the couch once he had everything on.

The soft pattering of water from the bathroom lulled Chrom into a daze, letting him fall asleep before he could say goodnight.


	8. Wiggles

When Robin woke up in the morning, Chrom was still asleep on the couch. Chrom’s height forced him to fold in on himself on the couch, reminding Robin a little bit of a folding chair. There was a pillow Robin had stuffed underneath his head on the floor, but Chrom was tangled up in the sheet that Robin had covered him with. Chrom was snoring slightly, while Morrigan slept on top of him. Despite his best efforts, Robin couldn’t resist snapping a picture of the two of them.

Robin shuffled over to his kitchen, turning on his coffee machine and making sure that everything in the machine was full of fresh coffee grinds. He wondered for a moment if he should make some breakfast before deciding that, yeah, it would probably be the best course of action. While growing up, his father hadn’t really cared for guests, but it was thanks to his mother that Robin now had a set of rules he followed whenever he had someone over.

It didn’t necessarily mean that Robin always did this (which got him scolded by his mother; meanwhile his brother could care less than Robin and his mother combined -- which was why he lived with their father).

Robin let out a small sigh, looking through his fridge and finding something to make for him and Chrom both. Thinking about his family always made him feel weird, so he tried to let it go as he fished out some stuff to make pancakes. He began to make the pancake mix just as the smell of coffee was filling the room. The coffee would be the best thing for him at the moment, since he wanted to focus on the pancakes, but he was so exhausted.

Maybe he would take a nap later if the coffee didn’t help him.

Robin had nothing to do and he didn’t think that Chrom was going to stay the whole day (although he wouldn’t be upset if it didn’t happen. Robin really did like spending time with Chrom, which was probably bad, considering how easily attached he was initially, and how it kept getting worse). Chrom was nice to be around and he should probably start being more sociable again.

Besides, Chrom was really cute and his dogs loved him. Robin wasn’t going to focus on Chrom’s attractiveness, nor the fact that the two of them seemed to have been at first; or the fact that they were slowly becoming good friends and Chrom was currently passed out on his couch. Chrom looked really cute and every time Robin glanced at him he felt his cheeks heat up a little bit.

Robin shook his head at himself and focused back up on the pancakes. He slid them off of the pan easily, hearing Morrigan get off of the couch. When he looked down he saw her sitting near the stove, letting out a loud yawn. Her brother followed after her, sitting down underneath the coffee machine. Morgan rested his head on the his paws, closing his eyes and relaxing with his tail wagging just a little.

“Are you making coffee?” Robin hadn’t even heard Chrom come up behind him and he jumped. He let out a little yelp, turning around while brandishing his spatula. Chrom looked at him and held his hands up in a gesture of peace. “Sorry, sorry!” He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at Robin. “So, coffee?” Chrom’s clothing was rumpled and he looked less exhausted than Robin probably did.

“Yeah, you can make yourself a cup. Do you want some bacon? Or would you prefer sausage?” Robin glanced at Chrom, who was pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“Bacon. How do you take your coffee?”

“You don’t have to make me a cup,” Robin said, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

Chrom look up from where he had stuck his head in Robin’s fridge. “You don’t have to make me breakfast, either.”

Robin hummed. “Speaking of which, how many pancakes do you want? Also, pass me the bacon, please. I guess I don’t have to make you breakfast, but you didn’t have to take me to the art show yesterday.”

“You didn’t have to let me crash here or invite me to the art show,” Chrom countered, handing him the bacon. “Are we going to continue attempting to one up each other or will you let me be polite and make you your cup of coffee?” Usually Chrom wasn’t especially sassy or sarcastic, since those things tended to fly over his head (a lot of things did, actually. Chrom was a pretty straight-forward person, even if he wasn’t as straight-laced as Frederick would be).

Robin wasn’t sure where it was coming from but he elected not to comment on it. He just wanted to get through the rest of the day so he could nap. “I take it light,” Robin told him. “It changes every time I actually drink coffee, but I typically put more milk than coffee in there,” Robin admitted, and Chrom looked at him for a moment before nodding and making him a cup.

It didn’t take much longer until Robin was finished cooking and he served the plates of food and happily took the coffee Chrom offered him. “I should eat and head out. Lucina probably misses me.” Lucina did not give a damn about anyone, but Chrom was probably just missing his cat. Not that Robin could blame him, since he was the same way with his dogs.

“All right, do you want syrup?” Robin asked before he sipped at his coffee. When Chrom left he would be able to take a nap, which was all he was looking forward to.

“Yeah, sure!” Robin nodded and went towards the cabinet. He dug through it until he found the nearly empty bottle of syrup, which he handed towards Chrom. The two of them just stood in Robin’s kitchen, eating their pancakes and drinking their coffee. God, he hadn’t been this exhausted in a long time. Was something wrong with him?

The two of them were silent, other than Chrom asking if he could give the dogs bacon (Robin said no, since they kept getting spoiled).

When Chrom was finished, Robin took his plate and cup. “I’ll be taking my leave. I’ll text you later, alright?” Chrom gave him a smile and Robin nodded.

“Sounds fine by me.”

“Also, don’t shut yourself up in your room that often. I got bored without our not-studying times,” Chrom said, and nudged him gently.

“I’m sure Frederick entertains you, now shoo. I need to do homework and you have a cat to feed.” Robin was constantly doing homework.

“Alright, alright. I’ll see you later then.” Chrom gave the dogs two pets each before leaving his apartment. Robin looked at the dishes in the sink before deciding that he would clean those up and take a nap.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
When Robin woke up from his nap, he was incredibly warm and noted that it was because of the fact that both of the dogs were on him. He could hear whistling and assumed it was Gaius, grabbing Morrigan and holding her close to himself as he tried to go back asleep. He kicked off the blanket that he had been wearing, feeling Morgan curl up on his back.

There was a crash in the kitchen and then a loud curse, which only confirmed that Gaius was home. Robin closed his eyes again, letting out a small and satisfied sigh.

Only to be interrupted when his phone buzzed twice. He opened his eyes and searched around for his phone, grabbing it and looking at the message. It was from Chrom.

>> [12:30 PM] hey  
>> [12:30 PM] [Image Attachment]

Robin opened the picture, seeing the fuzz that was Lucina sitting on top of Chrom’s lap.

>> [12:33 PM] i just got home and she did this

Robin had to shifted in order to get a good angle of both him and the two dogs. Since they were both essentially laying on top of him, and since they were gigantic, it wasn’t hard for them to get a picture with him in it.

<< [12:39 PM] [Image Attachment]

Chrom took a moment to respond and when he did all that he had sent was the thumbs up emoji. Robin stared at his screen for a moment before snuggling back with his dogs. Chrom was a bit of a goof, so he didn’t think much of it. Besides, he wanted to go back to his nap, so Robin worked on closing his eyes once again and attempting to fall back asleep.

Thankfully, Chrom didn’t text him again, which meant that he was allowed to fall back asleep. Just as he thought that, there was another buzz and he opened his eyes, frowning at his phone.

>> [12:47 PM] did i leave my jacket at your place?

Robin sighed, getting out from in between his dogs and dragging himself out to the living room. Gaius was laying down on the floor and greeted him with a wave. “Hey, Bubbles!” He turned over on his side and went back to whatever game he was playing. Robin spotted Chrom’s jacket and sent him a picture of it.

<< [12:50 PM] there it is  
>> [12:51 PM] cool thanks, I’ll have to pick it up at some point

Robin hovered over the keyboard.

<< [12:53 PM] maybe we should hang again soon? That way I can give you your jacket  
>> [12:54 PM] yeah!!! That sounds great   
<< [12:55 PM] alright, cool i’ll text you the details later but for now i’m going to go back to bed  
>> [12:56 PM] it’s almost one

Robin got back in his bed and convinced his pets to join him again. Morgan laid on his stomach and Morrigan laid next to his legs. Robin took a picture of them.

<< [1:00 PM] time isnt real and i dont see your point. goodnight chrom

Robin just turned his phone off to avoid the other waking him up again, not even bothering to wait for a response before he dozed off to sleep again.


	9. Tums

After Chrom had gone to the gallery with Robin and had slept over, the two of them were back on track when it came to their friendship. Actually, it seemed like their friendship was even stronger than it had been priorly. Robin seemed more friendly than he had before and he wasn’t really sure as to why that was, but Chrom wasn’t complaining. Chrom enjoyed being around Robin. Robin was easily one of his best friends, second only to Frederick.

There was possibly more there, since there was still that underlying attraction that had never went away. It seemed to be increasing too since whenever Robin touched him, Chrom got more excited than he should have. He felt like how Lucina must have when he scratched her in the right spot, pleased and content and just wanting to curl up to the person that was petting her. And talking to Robin and seeing Robin was something that he was constantly looking forward to. 

It had been a while since Chrom had gotten a crush on someone so he wasn’t really sure what this was. Chrom guessed that it could be a crush, or it could just be him being excited at the fact that he had a close friend that wasn’t just Frederick and wasn’t someone from his family. 

He glanced down at his phone and realized that he should probably head to his class now, or at least begin heading towards the class so that he could be there on time. Chrom quickly got everything he needed (which was just his laptop, really) and then headed to the class. Maybe he could get coffee later? 

Maybe he should ask Robin to coffee. He seemed to be more exhausted every time Chrom saw him, and he was sure that Robin wouldn’t mind Chrom buying him coffee. He would probably be suspicious as to why Chrom was paying but at this point Chrom didn’t want Robin to pay for the majority of things when the two of them went out for coffee or food or anything like that. 

That sounded weird, Chrom realized. But Chrom liked Robin and he enjoyed spending money on him too. 

Chrom just ran a hand through his hair and focused on getting to class. When he got there he sat down, and was instantly tempted to rest his head on his desk. Maybe he should have gotten the coffee beforehand.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Class seemed to have droned on for forever. He let out a yawn and stretched, looking down at his phone and sending Robin a quick text, asking him if he wanted to go out to get some coffee. He leaned against the wall, looking down at his phone as he waited for Robin to text him back. 

He decided to start heading towards their usual spot anyways, despite the fact that Robin hadn’t confirmed or denied meeting him up for coffee. No matter what, Chrom just wanted coffee. Having Robin there would just be an added bonus and it meant that he would be able to enjoy the other man more since their fall break was coming up. When that came up they were going to be separated for a while. Well, really it was only one week long; their holiday break was going to be much longer. 

But still, Chrom wanted to spend as much time as he could with Robin. And if that included just getting coffee until their time to be separated for a little bit came up, then Chrom was okay with that.

>> [2:30 PM] on my way, usual spot?  
<< [2:31 PM] yeah!!! Im here already, i’ll buy

There wasn’t a response from Robin after that and Chrom just glanced down at his shoes before going inside the coffee shop. He guessed that Robin was busy heading out so he didn’t send any more texts, just in case he slowed Robin down. Chrom stood away from the line even though he knew what he wanted. He was just going to wait till Robin came for him to order.

Everytime he heard the door open he turned around and hoped that it was Robin, but he didn’t see the other man anywhere. 

Chrom realized that him just standing there was probably a little creepy but he also knew that a lot of people met there for coffee, so he knew that it wasn’t a big deal. The door opened again and he looked over at it, seeing the familiar white hair underneath a ratty beanie.

“Hey, Robin!” Chrom went over to his friend and did his best to not bring him into a big hug. “Decide what you want and I’ll pay for you.” Chrom was tempted to wrap his arm around Robin’s waist and hold him close to himself. Chrom did not do that and didn’t know where it came from (he was sure it was the underlying attraction that kept popping up ever since he had first met Robin, but he ignored it).

“You don’t have to pay,” Robin protested, already stepping up to the line. Chrom followed after him.

“I know I don’t have to pay, I just want to pay for you,” Chrom said, and shrugged. “Go find us a seat. Do you want me to get you something to eat too?” 

“Gods, please. Do you know what I order?” Robin asked him and Chrom nodded his head, “Alright, cool.” Robin gave Chrom a small smile and he went to go and find a seat. He stood in line and waited his turn. By then Chrom had Robin’s coffee memorized. After all, Robin ordered the same thing every time they went out for coffee.

When it was Chrom’s turn to be up at the counter, he told the barista what they wanted and he looked over at the muffins. He got them both blueberry muffins and hoped that that was okay for Robin.

While waiting for their drinks to come, he held the muffins and looked around until he spotted Robin. When he saw Robin he felt relieved at knowing that he wasn’t sitting that far away from where Chrom was standing so that it would be easier for him to bring everything over. His name was called out quickly and he grabbed the two drinks, managing to balance the muffins with the coffees. 

“You should have called me over,” Robin mumbled when Chrom came over, holding the muffins precariously in his hand. Robin took one of the muffins and both of the coffees away from Chrom. “Blueberry?” 

Chrom slid in the booth and looked at him. “Is that okay for you?”

“You could have given me anything I still would have eaten it,” Robin told him, pulling the saran wrap off of the blueberry and began to eat it rather than taking a sip of the coffee first. Chrom did the same, thinking about the statement Robin just said and who it reminded him off. 

The two of them just sat there in silence for a moment, eating their muffins. Chrom didn’t mind the silence, actually enjoying it. After a few more minutes of silence between the two of them, Robin spoke up. “What are you doing over fall break?” He asked Chrom, leaning in just a little bit and blowing the steam from the top of his coffee.

“Lissa and I are going home to spend it with Emm,” he told Robin honestly. “What about you?”

“I’m going to my mom’s,” Robin replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Not visiting your dad?” Chrom asked. He and Robin didn’t mention Robin’s father much, and they also didn’t mention his brother. Robin was obviously a little bit estranged from the males in his family, but Chrom had to know if he needed to text Robin during some awkward family meeting or something.

Robin’s face fell a little and Chrom felt as if he had overstepped a boundary. “No, I’m not,” Robin said, shaking his head. Chrom shifted in his chair and nodded in acknowledgement.

There was a silence between the two of them again, but it was more awkward this time around and Chrom knew it was because of something that he had said. He didn’t say anything else though, waiting for Robin to make the first move when it came towards talking about something.

The two of them just sipped their coffee quietly. 

It was a little bit awkward now (a lot awkward now) but Chrom wasn’t going to let that deter him. “Do you have anymore classes today?” Chrom asked Robin, breaking the silence. 

“No, I had all my classes this morning,” Robin told him. “Why?”

“Wait, what time did you get up this morning?”

“7:30.” He shrugged. Robin said it as if it was nothing, and Chrom was a little more than surprised, but honestly Robin slept less than the majority of people that he knew. “It’s not a big deal,” Robin added, plucking up a crumb and squishing it in between his fingers. “Anyways, why do you want to know if I have anymore classes today?”

Chrom gently nudged Robin’s foot with his own underneath the table. “We can walk the dogs, and then we chill out or something. I just want to cuddle your dogs.” That was partly a lie, since he really just wanted to hang out with Robin.

Robin laughed a little bit, looking amused. His eyes were bright and God, Chrom realized how close they had gotten in the last, what, two months? “Fine. I’m sure you’re going to miss Morrigan and Morgan when we’re gone over break.”

“Oh, you’re going to take them with you?” Chrom was going to take Lucina, but she didn’t like being in the car so he had decided against it. Instead, he was just going to leave her with Frederick. Frederick loved her almost as much as Chrom did, so he trusted him.

“Yeah, the two of them will miss me too much,” Robin told him, glancing down and looking up at Chrom again. “So, if you have nothing else to do today, I’m sure that Morgan and Morrigan will like to be walked by you and we can totally just hang out.”

Chrom smiled at him. “I would love that. What a great idea, Robin,” he told him with a small wink.

“Shut up Chrom,” Robin countered, standing up. Chrom stood up as well, grinning.

“Let’s just go and pet your dogs.”


	10. Sniffs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry i keep going with large pauses between chapters, i'm just busy with school and things dealing with real life

As they walked back to his place, he and Chrom barely said anything. Robin didn’t mind, really, since the two of them were just content walking in silence. He walked close to Chrom though, their shoulders brushing each other every now and then. He noticed the light wisps of breath that fell from Chrom’s mouth, curling in the air.

“Are you really just friends with me for my dogs?” Robin asked after a moment.

“I never said anything along those lines,” Chrom replied, looking appropriately scandalized to hear that.

“I was joking,” Robin assured him, raising a brow at the taller man and smiling a little bit. He noticed the way that his shoulders sagged after hearing that. Chrom had been acting a little strange since the night of the gallery, and he didn’t know what was up. He guessed he couldn’t know what was up unless Chrom either told him or Robin asked him straight-up.

“I know,” Chrom mumbled and neither of them really said a lot as they got to his apartment. “Is Gaius home?” Chrom asked as Robin let him in.

“Nah, I don’t know what he’s doing, honestly. I don’t know where he is half of the time,” Robin shrugged. “He’s my roommate and my best friend, but he tends to just disappear sometimes.” Not really disappear; Robin was exaggerating just a little bit. Chrom let out a huff of laughter behind him, taking off his shoes, and Robin got Morgan and Morrigan out of their cages.

At the sight of Chrom, Morgan and Morrigan both ran up to him and nudged his hands with their big heads. Obediently, Chrom kneeled down and scratched them behind the ears, cooing and whispering words of praise to the dogs. He pressed kisses against their faces while Robin watched him as he showered his dogs with affection. Robin stared at him for a moment, a warm feeling filling his chest.

“Come here,” Robin clicked his tongue, and at the sound both dogs went over to him. Robin sat down and nuzzled the two dogs happily, looking at Chrom, who was staring at Robin and the dogs. Robin gave him a bright grin, pressing smooches against his dog’s faces, Morrigan licking his face when he did so.

“Do you want to put on a movie or something?” Robin asked him as he stood up, stretching and hearing his bones pop as he did. Chrom nodded, standing up too and going over to the couch. “Should we go with terrible movies or actually something decent?” Robin asked as he joined him, shifting close to Chrom but not quite touching him.

Chrom looked over at him. “Let’s go with something terrible.”

“Do you want something to snack on or do you want anything to drink?” Robin hummed, resisting the urge to lean on him.

“Maybe a blanket? And maybe snacks if you guys have some,” Chrom shifted. “Come here baby,” he cooed at the two dogs. They padded over towards him and crawled onto the couch. Robin got off so that he could grab them a few blankets (although he doubted they would need them with two large dogs on top of them) and dumped them on Chrom, who laughed from underneath the blankets.

“You know that we always have snacks in this apartment. It wouldn’t be Gaius’ place if there wasn’t candy or something else here,” Robin mumbled, scanning the cabinets and taking something he knew Gaius bought specifically to share.

He got some water too and then returned to Chrom. Chrom had created a small set up for him and the dogs, only shifting when Robin came back. He placed the things down, joining Chrom on the couch. Since the dogs were there, they were now on separate ends of the couch, which was okay, since everything is enhanced when you add dogs.

“Do you want to chose the movie?” Robin asked.

“Nah, you can,” Chrom said, shrugging and glancing at his phone. “Look at this mess that Frederick just sent me.” Robin paused his movie scanning to look at the phone. Frederick had sent him a picture of Lucina sitting in a literal mess of toilet paper. She was staring straight at the camera, as if daring for the viewer to do something.

Robin let out a small laugh. Morgan huffed and placed his head in Robin’s lap. “Cats are more messy than dogs.” Robin wasn’t sure if that was true or not but he enjoyed watching cat people get offended.

“Dogs literally dig in the trash,” Chrom protested, wrapping his arms around Morrigan and dragged her on top of him. The dog wiggled in response, but he still held her. Morrigan licked his nose and Robin snapped a photo of the cuddling, sending the picture to Chrom and also to Gaius. He dug his feet underneath Morgan, finding a movie and reading the description.

“How does this sound?” Robin looked over at Chrom.

“Rubber?” Chrom raised a brow, reading the description. “Sounds weird and like it’s trying hard to not be terrible, but it actually is terrible. Let’s go with it,” he nodded his approval and he pressed play. Robin and Chrom settled down as the movie started, while Morgan and Morrigan eventually began to play despite them being in their laps. Robin gently shoved Morgan off and Morrigan jumped off with him.

The two dogs went to his room to play and Chrom and Robin moved closer together. Their feet were touching and Robin intertwined their ankles, watching the movie. It was weird, since the tire was falling in love with a human and everyone except for the old man on the hilltop was dead. Apparently none of them thought to bring their own food and ate poisoned chicken.

“This is weird,” Chrom mumbled and Robin looked over at him.

“I have weirder movies. Gaius once sent me an entire list of weird movies, if you want to watch those instead of this we can,” Robin said, glancing back at the movie. “I think I have The Room downloaded somewhere.” He had downloaded it after Gaius described to him the infamy that surrounded the movie.

“What’s that?” Chrom raised his brow as he looked at Robin. The two of them hadn’t moved any closer and he was beginning to notice the lack of heat because of the absence of the dogs. So Robin was tempted to move closer, or if he could call the dogs back into the room that would be nice, but their stubborn asses probably wouldn’t move and stay asleep or whatever it was that they were doing at the moment.

“It’s a movie written by Tommy Wiseau and is probably the worst piece of cinema I’ve ever seen, but I also enjoy it a lot,” Robin admitted.

“Put it on,” Chrom told him and he did as he was told, turning off the current movie and instead finding his copy of The Room on that hard drive. He looked at Chrom as it played, watching his reaction to the first opening scenes of the movie. Robin had only seen the movie a few times when he was admittedly drunk on wine, but it was still something that he knew was enjoyable to watch. And make fun of. Especially since it was meant to be a serious film, as far as he knew.

Maybe it wasn’t and Tommy Wiseau just pulled a huge prank on everyone who’s ever seen that movie. Robin didn’t know; he had never done any research on this movie, so honestly he was in the dark about the whole entire thing.

“Are you cold?” Chrom asked him. Robin glanced over from the awkward scene with Tommy in the flower shop petting that dog.

“A little, which is odd since we’re under so many blankets,” Robin grabbed the bowl of pretzels, popping a few into his mouth.

“Is your heat on?” Chrom asked him and Robin shook his head.

“Nah, the heat doesn’t work here. We’ve been trying to get that fixed but no one has come in to help us out,” Robin admitted. The rent here was cheap and they allowed dogs, but there were downsides to it, like how no one really listened to their complaints and their neighbors had really loud sex all of the time. And they were into some kinky stuff that Robin could live without hearing from other people. “I can get more blankets if you’re cold though, I don’t really mind it.” He didn’t want to get more without the permission since that might make Chrom overheat.

“No, I mean there are two of us on the couch, so it might get a little warm,” Chrom admitted and Robin nodded his head in agreement. “If it gets colder though, you should probably grab another blanket. I just thought that I felt you shivering.” Chrom rubbed his foot against Robin’s ankle and for some ungodly reason Robin felt himself beginning to blush.

“Right, yeah I will,” Robin mumbled. He pulled his blanket closer to his face so that Chrom wouldn’t see the blush on his cheeks. They were silent again for a moment and he was tempted to glance over at Chrom but he didn’t do that. He just varied between staring at his own light brown and white hand and then at the movie. Robin had lost track of where they were in the movie, but apparently they were playing football in suits.

It felt like most of the time they spent together was in silence, but Robin didn’t mind.. Every now and then Chrom’s foot would move against his ankle and he would try not to blush. “Okay, so I texted my sisters a screenshot of this movie and apparently they have both seen it? Which makes me confused, because how did they manage to see it before me? Especially Emm. Emm is so serious! I don’t understand how she would have ended up seeing this,” Chrom rambled, effectively breaking the silence between them.

“Maybe she has weird, cool friends like me? And maybe she tries to win over their dogs?” Robin suggested jokingly, and Chrom kicked him gently.

“Cool? More like absolute dorks.”

“Chrom, you are the biggest dork that I know,” Robin told him. “And I know Gaius.” Gaius was actually a pretty cool guy, but Robin was pretty sure that his infliction for candy factored out a lot of the things that made him cool. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you’re a pretty goofy dude. You’re like a dad without actually being a dad.”

“Dads are cool!” Chrom defended himself.

“That makes you even dorkier,” Robin laughed at him, grinning at him now. “Dads are dorks.” At least, normal dads were. Robin’s dad wasn’t dorky at all, but he didn’t like to think about him or his brother very much since his brother was just as bad as his father.

Chrom mumbled “whatever” underneath his breath and looked at the screen again. Robin was still grinning just a little bit and he switched out the bowl of pretzels for the bowl of popcorn instead. Chrom took the bowl of pretzels and held it close to himself.

They continued to watch the movie, making a few snippy comments now and again.

It was nice for the two of them to just hang out like this since they were alone and were just watching stupid movies. “Hey, do you know what big dorks like?” Robin asked him.

Chrom sighed. “What?”

“They like cats named Lucina,” Robin chirped, smirking at him.

“I’m going to smother you,” Chrom grumbled, throwing a pillow at him. Robin let out another laugh, making sure that the popcorn was safe and it didn’t get all over his couch.

“Nooo, don’t! I have two dogs that would miss me if you do that,” Robin pleaded, screwing up his face like he was about to cry.

“I can just take them. They’ll be fine,” Chrom retorted, looking at Robin with a smile on his face. Robin gasped dramatically.

“I am shocked and offended! Get out of my house right now,” Robin demanded, and began to playfully push Chrom off of the couch. Chrom played along, slowly falling off the couch. When he was off he took the majority of the blankets with him and just laid there for a moment.

“You’re a dork,” Chrom told him as he got back on the couch.

“Shut up.” There were no heat behind the words. Robin was still just smiling.


	11. Purring

Chrom had fallen asleep at Robin’s house again. It seemed that whenever he went over to just watch movies he ended up falling asleep on the couch. Granted, it was an incredibly comfortable couch, but Chrom never remembered falling asleep and Robin never woke him up whenever he fell asleep. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried not to glare at random spots on the wall, sitting up slowly and carefully. Morrigan was by his feet, seeming to still be asleep.

Morgan was on the couch, sleeping on top of Robin, who was snoring (or was that Morgan snoring? Chrom couldn’t tell). He looked at the time. It was still pretty early. Chrom wondered if he should wake up Robin but noticed how asleep the white haired man was, so he decided against it. He had several texts from Frederick too that he should probably respond to.

_Frederick: Chrom, are you staying over at Robins?_   
_Frederick: Lucina hacked up another furball._   
_Frederick: Do you know where her hair brush is? I want to make sure she’s not covered in anymore excess fur._   
_Frederick: Chrom? Chrom. I’m assuming you fell asleep at Robin’s. Text me when you wake up._

Chrom: Frederick, hi! Sorry, yeah I fell asleep.  
Chrom: I’m going to get home soon and her brush should be where I last put it?? Unless I moved it without meaning to  
Chrom: Also, good morning Frederick! Sorry if I worried you last night

He looked over at the sleeping Robin again. He had shifted now, his arms wrapped around his dog. Robin looked cute. His white hair was a stark contrast to Morgan’s dark hair, and Chrom couldn’t help but admire the pattern the vitiligo had caused with his skin. Which was probably weird of him to do. Especially because Robin was sleeping. Chrom looked away and stood up, stretching and feeling his back pop.

Chrom felt like he was a middle schooler again and he ended up waking up before everyone else during a sleepover (one that didn’t include Frederick, since he had always been weird and always woke up early). He didn’t know what to do. Chrom didn’t want to make any loud noises in case he woke up both the dogs and Robin. Chrom sat down again and wondered what he should do. It didn’t feel right leaving without telling Robin goodbye and making sure that Robin knew where he was going.

It wasn’t like the two of them had a one night stand. Chrom brushed any and all thoughts of him and Robin doing anything remotely like that away. His cheeks were flushed and he just started to get up. Maybe he should wake up Robin. It wasn’t like he couldn’t fall back asleep or anything. He went to go and rustle Morgan first since the dog was still asleep on his owner but the door opening had both of the dogs shooting up and running towards it.

Robin shot up with a small whimper of pain from Morgan’s paws most likely digging into him. He looked at Chrom, seeming confused for a second before recollecting himself. “I’m home!” Gaius’ loud voice seemed boom around the apartment and he leaned down, petting the dogs. “Hi babies! Did you miss me?” Gaius cooed at them. Morrigan got on her stomach and began to force Gaius to rub her belly. Morgan got jealous and nudged Gaius with his nose.

“Hi Gaius,” Robin murmured, voice deep and rough with the last remnants of sleep. Chrom coughed a little into his hand, definitely not thinking about how nice the other's voice sounded in the morning. God, what was with him this morning? It wasn’t like he didn’t know that he was attracted to Robin. He had found him cute since he had first saw him after all, and he had been interested in dating him back then, but they went with the friend route instead. Now Chrom was beginning to die inside.

“Hey Bubbles! And Blue.” Gaius grinned at him. “Did you sleep over?” Gaius asked him and Chrom nodded his head.

“Yeah, I did.” Chrom went to go pet Morgan as the dog came back over, scratching him behind the ears. The dog sat in front of him, looking up at him with a stupid grin.

Gaius nodded his head, “I’m going to take a shower,” he announced before walking off and going further inside of the apartment.

“Good morning,” Robin greeted Chrom, running a hand through his hair. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not very long,” Chrom shrugged and smiled at Robin. He ignored the fact that maybe the small attraction he held for Robin had expanded into something more and now was all hitting him. Like a ton of bricks. Chrom wasn’t sure what to do about it other than act as normal as he possibly could. “How did you sleep?”

Robin sat up, stretching his arms above his head. “Fine. A little cramped because we were both on the couch and I had a dog on me, but I slept fine. How about you?” He turned towards him and Chrom stared at Robin for a few moments. He still looked tired and Chrom realized that he had been staring for too long.

“I slept good!I think that I took up the majority of the couch though. Probably because of how tall I am.” Chrom was only a few inches taller than Robin, but he was still taller and took up some leg space.

“You’re not that tall,” Robin countered, bumping into him gently and Chrom laughed. He looked down at Robin, who had just stayed resting on his shoulder. His eyes were closed again and he sighed gently. “I’m still tired,” Robin whispered to him and Chrom was tempted to play with the hair on the back of Robin’s neck.

“Maybe you should take a nap after I leave,” Chrom whispered back.

“Mmm, I have to walk the dogs.” Robin opened his eyes and sat up straight, much to Chrom’s disappointment. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I’ll just shower and brush my teeth after Gaius, but yeah, gotta walk the pups.” Robin reached down and scratched Morgan’s muzzle.

Chrom went silent again for a moment. “I’ll go out with you. I have to begin my walk home anyways,” Chrom suggested, looking at Robin.

“If you don’t mind my bad breath, sure.” Robin stood up. “Help me get their leashes on? I can walk them just fine on my own.”

“Except when they run away and bump into handsome strangers,” Chrom chirped, and grabbed one of their leashes. They were identical, so he didn’t know which one was which. Both dogs sat down in front of him, with Morgan bouncing a little as he waited for his leash to be placed on. Chrom struggled with it for a moment before getting it on the excited dog.

Robin clipped on Morrigan’s leash without any issue. “Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night,” Robin replied, smiling at him again. Chrom smiled back. He stretched out his hand and Chrom handed over Morgan’s leash. Chrom opened the door and let Robin out first, following after him. Robin still looked a little rumpled and he was sure that Chrom looked the same way too.

Also, both of them still had morning breath.

The two of them didn’t talk much as they walked. The dogs were being patient and sniffing around now and then. Chrom noticed the way that Robin’s face was getting a little bit pink from the cold, especially the tip of his nose, Chrom could also see his breath and he kept staring at him without meaning too. Chrom just felt a little bit odd now that he realized that his attraction went from a simple aesthetic crush to an actual crush.

Not that it wasn’t a real crush before.

Chrom had no idea what he was thinking about anymore. He ran a hand through his hair. They were walking fast and soon enough the two of them were going to reach where they went their separate ways. “Do you have anything to do today?” Chrom asked Robin.

“I think I have some classes to go to, but they’re later in the day. So I get to have a small nap,” Robin said, grinning a little this time. The two of them were quiet again and Chrom felt a little bit awkward. Maybe it was because he wanted to hold Robin’s hand more now than ever. Since Robin was walking his dogs he didn’t hold his hand, not wanting to make it hard for him to walk the two of them.

“That’s good.” Chrom nodded his head. Chrom had a class later but he didn’t really have a lot of things to do. They got to the place where they were to go their separate ways, and Chrom turned to Robin. “I’ll text you,” Chrom promised, smiling at him. Robin gave him a sleepy smile back.

“Send pictures of Lucina for me,” Robin told him. Morrigan was pulling at the leash and Robin gently chastised her, making her sit. Chrom decided to go for it, wrapping his arms around Robin and giving him a quick hug. When he pulled away, he tried to ignore the heat rising in his cheeks.

“Bye!” Chrom called, waving his hand.

“Bye, Chrom!” Robin yelled after waving in return. Chrom gave him one last smile before hurrying down the street.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

 

The walk home didn’t take very long. Once he arrived, he pulled off his shoes and looked around. “I’m home,” he called out. Frederick poked his head out of the kitchen.

“Welcome home,” his friend greeted him. Lucina let out a noise as she got up from where she was curled up on the couch. She walked over to him and rubbed against his legs, Chrom reached down and pet her gently before picking her up. He pressed kisses against her face, holding her in his arms like she was a baby. Her paws touched his cheeks and he grinned down at her before letting her back to the floor.

“I’m going to shower. Are you working out?” Chrom asked Frederick.

“I already went for a run and did my usual routine,” Frederick answered, exiting the kitchen. He was holding what Chrom assumed was a protein drink (they were disgusting. When he did work out with Frederick he made Chrom drink them and he hated them). Chrom nodded his head.

Chrom let out a hum and stretched, walking down the hall to the shower. The shower was short and Lucina had followed him into the bathroom, so she was curled up in the corner of the bathroom the entire time. When he was finished he dried and dressed, picking up his cat again and carrying her out into the living room. Usually Lucina wasn’t that clingy and he wondered why she was all over him that day. Not that he minded, Chrom would happily curl up with her.

“She missed you,” Frederick commented. “She kept meowing at your bedroom door.” He reached down and pet the furry creature on Chrom’s chest. Lucina released a loud purr at the affection she was receiving, stretching in her sleep.

“Awe,” Chrom cooed, pressing down gently on her paws, watching as her claws came out before retracting again. “I missed her too.” He loved his cat. A lot. She was a good cat and he had had her since high school. He snapped a picture of her on his chest, sending it to the group chat he had with Emm and Lissa before sending it to Robin separately.

 **Lissa: oh she is just so cute!!!! >w< i love her**  
_Emm: Sometimes I believe she still thinks she’s a kitten._

Robin: Holy Shit i love her

Chrom smiled at the different reactions. He looked at the time. His class still wasn’t for a while, so he just continued to lay there with his cat on his chest. Lucina was warm and Chrom wasn’t tired enough to fall asleep with her sitting on him like this, but he was incredibly comfortable.

“Are you and Robin going to begin dating?” Frederick asked him. “I haven’t talked to him much but you talk to him often. You seem happy when you’re around him.”

Chrom wasn’t surprised that he noticed that he was happy talking to Robin. Frederick tended to notice things about Chrom that he zoned out on. Frederick was essentially hyperfocused on everything, and growing up he seemed to have been hyperfocused on Chrom as a friend.

“Um, I don’t know? I mean, we’re friends,” Chrom admitted. “I like him; A lot more than I originally thought I liked him. I’ll just see how things go, I guess.” Or he could ask him out soon, but Chrom wasn’t sure if he should wait a little bit longer before he did that. Chrom rubbed Lucina’s chin, looking over at Frederick, who just nodded his head. Neither of them said anything else.

Chrom sent Robin one more snapshot of Lucina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so like if you're confused about the sudden change in chrom thing i wrote his crush on robin similar to how i get crushes; slowly then all at once


	12. Snuffs

“Is Blue gone?” Gaius asked when he flopped onto the couch next to Robin. Robin looked over at him, having not really moved in a few minutes now. “Ooooh, are you two texting? That’s cute. It’s like when Libra and I first began to date. Soon enough you’re going to change his name in your contacts to something gay and cute,” Gaius rambled, leaning on Robin. Even though the two of them had dated, it felt as if they had always just been friends.

Granted, they didn’t end up dating for very long. Robin was grateful for that. Not that he disliked Gaius, it was just that he was just so much happier now. “Yes, he left while you were in the shower. And yes, we are texting,” Robin told him. “And we’re not going to date.” Although the mention of it made his cheeks flush.

  
“You’ve found him cute for months, Bubbles, and you’ve been friends for a while. You’re going to date eventually,” Gaius said, sounding like he was all-knowing. Ever since he started dating Libra, Robin felt like he was ten times more inquisitive. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he thinks you’re cute too. He gives you the same eyes that you give him.”

  
“I don’t give him eyes!” Robin protested, his face flushed down to his neck..

  
Gaius started to crack up, wrapping his arms around his midsection as he laughed. “You’re so cute, you’re like a high schooler or something,” Gaius snickered, standing up. “Do we have enough food for the dogs?” Gaius asked, changing the topic entirely. “I think we’ve run out of some food items,” he said as he walked into the kitchen.

  
“They’re running low on kibble. Going to make a store run?” Robin asked him, standing up and stretching.

  
“Yeah. Do you want anything in particular?”

  
“No, I don’t. Thanks though, I’m going to shower. Make sure you don’t get the kibble that makes them gassy,” Robin warned him. He heard Gaius mumble something from the kitchen (“Of course I won’t. This apartment is too small for that type of torture.”), and Robin huffed gently on his way down the hall to the bathroom.

  
His phone chimed before he got in, and Chrom sent him a picture of a text book.

  
>> [3:30 PM] i have a test wednesday, do you want to cram with me Tuesday?  
<< [3:31 PM] sure! I think i have a test wednesday too so it’ll be good for me, just hit me up with what time you want me over and i’ll come with my stuff  
>> [3:33 PM] alright cool!

  
Robin smiled a little bit, mainly to himself. He paused, thinking about what Gaius was saying earlier about him having a crush on Chrom. If the warm feeling in his chest was anything to go by, then it was true. Robin realized that he liked him a lot. He was attracted to Chrom the first time that he saw him, so he wasn’t surprised that he had a crush on him now. Robin was just surprised that it was taking him this long to finally admit it to himself. Now he was confused as to what he was going to do on Tuesday night. Robin wasn’t sure if he was a subtle person or not, and he didn’t want to find out by messing up with Chrom.

  
Robin just decided to take a shower so that he didn’t have to think about it.   
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
On Tuesday night, Robin gathered his things and headed towards Chrom on a bus. Robin wondered what he was going to do. He tried not to think about the fact that it was supposedly just going to be him and Robin. Frederick will probably pop in at one point, but Chrom said that he had work, which meant that he wouldn’t be there. Frederick wouldn’t interrupt them often; the few times that he ever did were for something roommate or friend related. Otherwise, he and Chrom would be alone.

  
Well, not if you count Lucina, but she was a cat, and even though she was family to Chrom (from how much Chrom gushed about her), she was not a human who could point things out to him.

  
Getting to Chrom’s was easy, and Chrom let him in as soon as he knocked on the door. “Hey!” Chrom greeted him with a wide grin on his face.

  
“Hey,” Robin echoed, stepping inside of the house and slipping his shoes off. He carried his bag over to Chrom’s coffee table, leaning it on one of the table legs.

  
“How was your ride here?” Chrom asked him, and Robin shrugged his shoulders.

  
“It was all right. Nothing really happened, just a regular bus ride,” Robin said. That was better than all right, now that Robin considered it. If something had happened then he would have been late and that was something that always annoyed him, no matter what his obligations might be. Then he would have had to deal with whatever happened on the bus. The worst thing that usually happened was a train that took too long to pass and they got stuck in the traffic.

  
“Are you thirsty or hungry?” Chrom asked him and Robin shook his head. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable.” He gestured to the couch, where a sleeping blue fuzzball laid.

  
“Some water would be nice, but I’m not hungry,” Robin murmured. He gently scratched Lucina behind the ears, relieved that she didn’t swipe at him and just dealt with him giving her affection. Robin sat down on the couch. He wondered what Chrom had to study for, glancing at his notes for a moment before he took out his own.

  
Chrom joined him quickly, sitting down and giving him a glass of water (Robin mumbled “thank you”). “What is that?” Robin had glanced at his notes but he didn’t really read them.

  
“I have to study the Federalist papers and the Constitution. I read them in high school, but it’s not like I exactly memorized in them,” Chrom said, shrugging.

  
“That’s… really nerdy. You read the papers in high school?” Robin asked, brows furrowed in amusement.

  
Chrom blushed, and Robin thought for a moment about how nice he looked with a blush. His face was lightly tinted pink, and Robin stared at him for a moment. “Shut up,” Chrom mumbled, nudging him with his shoulder and Robin pretended to fall over. He laid on the couch for a moment, staring at some candle that was half burnt on the table.

  
“I can’t move. You’ve paralyzed me. Coach can’t play me now,” Robin groaned into the couch cushion below his face.

  
Chrom was silent and Robin felt, and heard, him shifting on the other end of the couch. All of a sudden, his feet were being grabbed by the ankles and his legs were placed into Chrom’s lap. Robin was silent for a moment. He felt his cheeks heating up. It wasn’t a lot of affection, but it was still something. It made him a little bit embarrassed to know that Chrom was willing to be affectionate with him.

  
Robin brushed his thoughts away.

This wasn’t anything. This was just Chrom wanting to use the space or something. Robin didn’t know. He tried not to think about it.

  
“Can you read these index cards and I’ll try to fill in the blanks or do whatever it’s asking?” The question was phrased oddly but Robin looked at Chrom before nodding. The dark haired man handed the cards to him.

  
Robin glanced over them, nodding his head. He scanned over the cards, reading them and seeing what it was that Chrom wanted him to do. It wasn’t hard, and just reminded him when he was younger and would study for simpler subjects with his friends. LIke biology note cards or something. The Constitution was simple, in some ways, but Chrom’s note cards didn’t discuss things like “what is an article”, or anything along those lines.

  
Robin sat up, but he didn’t take his feet out of Chrom’s lap. He was far too comfortable with them being there to remove them. Even if it made him blush that his feet were there. He looked at the first note card.

  
“A lone, weak branch of federal government in which each state seated between 2 and 7 members. Each state received a single vote on each matter, easily allowing small states to obstruct the passing of laws. Could only settle state-state disputes, represent them in foreign affairs, and create military alliances.” The card sounded like the definition had been copied from a lecture or a book. “What is that? Is what it’s asking, by the way,” Robin said, even though he realized that Chrom knew that already. He had made the cards after all. Robin felt a little stupid.

  
Chrom just hummed, resting his hand on Robin’s ankle gently. Robin thought that he was really warm. He brushed his thoughts aside and waited for Chrom to answer him. Robin thought about the two of them tossing the cards away and just snuggling all night and he suddenly began to hate himself because the whole point of him coming over was to study. That meant that he wasn’t supposed to make Chrom cuddle with him.

  
Even if Gaius was right about Chrom liking Robin it didn’t matter, because cuddling when he was supposed to be helping wasn’t a good thing to do. “Confederation Congress?” Chrom stated it like a question, and Robin felt that he was unsure of his answer. Robin gave him a warm smile.

  
“Yeah, you’re right,” he confirmed.

  
Chrom smiled at him. Robin smiled back at him, naturally. He found the other man so nice, and obviously handsome. “Next card?” Chrom asked him and Robin nodded his head. Okay. Robin should probably not get distracted anymore. He was probably only so distracted because he had only realized the full extent of his feelings towards Chrom just the other day. So, naturally, his brain was overwhelming him with all of the affection that he wanted to give Chrom.

  
That was probably a completely normal thing. He was sure that happened to other people too, right? Not just him. Robin found another card, mixing the cards up so that Chrom didn’t know what was going to happen next. “No, don’t mix them. It’ll make them harder,” Chrom whined a little bit.

Robin poked Chrom with his toe, laughing when Chrom squeezed his ankle, although he looked amused himself. “I need to mix them up. If I don’t, then you’re going to be able to guess them all,” Robin pointed out to him.

  
Chrom looked at him, his brows furrowed. It was still a partly amused look. Robin realized that if the two of them were dating that this would be the point where he leaned in and kiss Chrom. Robin didn’t do that, even if he wanted to do it. “Alright, what’s the next card?” Chrom asked.

  
“What is Quorum?” The majority of these things were basic, but he imagined that Chrom was going over them just in case. Robin knew that going over the basics was a good starting place when it came to studying.

  
“Quorum is a mandate that more than half of the members of either chamber of congress must be present at a meeting in order to conduct official business to stop small numbers of lawmakers from hijacking congress' power,” Chrom stated, so fast and simple that Robin was a little bit amused by how easily Chrom said it. Robin wondered how long he took to memorize it. As if reading his mind, Chrom shrugged. “I took AP Gov in high school, so I’m able to remember a lot of these things from the class, down to the dictionary definition.”

  
Robin blinked at him. “That’s… really dorky,” Robin laughed again. “Not the AP Gov thing, but memorizing the definitions to the point where you sound like you are the dictionary.” Robin smiled at him.

  
“Now I don’t want to study anymore because you’re making fun of me too much,” Chrom complained. Robin sat up fully and looked at Chrom, taking his legs off of his lap. The two of them were sitting apart and Chrom moved closer to him. Robin wondered why he did, before remembering the conversation with Gaius. Did Chrom really like him? Robin felt his cheeks flush at the idea with it.

  
Maybe Chrom wouldn’t mind if he moved closer to him. Robin did, and Chrom didn’t move away from him. The two of them just sat there next to each other silently for a few moments. “I don’t think I can focus anymore,” Chrom admitted to Robin, placing his head on top of Robin’s. “I’m too focused on thinking about other things,” Chrom quietly murmured.

  
“Other things?” Robin murmured in response, and Chrom nodded his head. He moved away from Robin, standing up.

  
“Yeah.” Chrom didn’t say anything more. He just went into the kitchen. “Need anything else?”

  
Robin tried not to think about it. “For you to help me study.”

  
Chrom came back with some chips, sitting down next to Robin again. “Alright, bring out what you need to study,” Chrom told him, and Robin did. He showed Chrom his notes.

  
“Help me review,” Robin said, nudging Chrom’s side. Chrom read over his notes and nodded his head. Robin focused on what he was saying, answering any questions that he asked him. The topic was easy for Robin but he didn’t want Chrom to be the only one who was studying. Besides, it didn’t hurt for him to have a little refresher of his memory before he went to take the test.

  
They didn’t cuddle again, but the two of them did sit incredibly close to one another. Robin felt happy, and he felt better about the ‘sitting close thing’ than he did about the cuddling, anyways. The cuddling was more overwhelming than anything.

  
Robin guessed that he could bring up the whole crush thing another time, when it was more appropriate, but Chrom did look handsome in the light of the living room, and Lucina in his lap made him look regal.


	13. Wags

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao sorry for the two week absence

Chrom was dying. Not literally, he wasn’t actually dying, but he felt as if he was dying somehow. His chest was tight and he didn’t know what to do about it. It wasn’t as if he was having a panic attack, but Chrom’s chest still felt weird and he was totally dying.

Frederick was glancing down at him, brows furrowed but face otherwise completely neutral. “Chrom, are you alright? I didn’t think that the work out was that hard.”

“Tell my sisters I love them. Kiss Lucina for me, kiss Morrigan and Morgan. Tell Robin that he’s short,” Chrom wheezed, closing his eyes and acting way more dramatic than he should be. He felt Frederick’s hands on him, hauling him up. Chrom opened his eyes automatically, staring at a pair of shins before forcing himself to stand.

“You’re not dying, although you may feel a little bit ill since I worked you more than your limit. Don’t be surprise if the soreness begins to set in soon,” Frederick replied, letting go of him. Chrom looked down at himself. His legs were shaking a little bit and he was already exhausted from everything, and his arms were tired too. Apparently, this was Frederick’s light work out. Chrom was physically fit, but he wasn’t Frederick fit. Frederick was able to run a marathon or two and then he was able to bench press Chrom’s weight over several reps.

“I’m dying.”

Frederick just looked exasperated now, his eyebrow twitching a little, but he did look a little amused. “When we get back to the apartment, we should drink some protein.” Frederick was leading him home.

Chrom hated protein, and he also hated the fact that Frederick had literally dragged him out of bed way earlier than he was supposed to be awake. He knew that it was his fault, considering that he had asked Frederick to work out with him. It would be a nice thing to distract himself from his overwhelming emotions at the moment (Robin was too cute) and it was just nice to remain on schedule. On the other hand, he was beginning to regret it considering how hardcore Frederick had made him work out. Now Chrom was exhausted and he wanted to take a nap after he took a shower.

Chrom: I think Frederick just attempted to kill me

Robin: i’m sure it was justified

Chrom: what kind of betrayal? I feel hurt, Robin. Frederick is supposed to be my protector, that’s why he’s so large.

Robin: is Frederick aware of this arrangement between you two?

Chrom: Inherently

Robin: Sure, Chrom.

Chrom stared down at the text and wondered who decided it was okay for people like Robin to be sassy. He didn't respond to the text, instead he pocketed his phone and followed Frederick home almost like a lost puppy. As soon as they got home he noticed that his legs were, in fact, sore by then and he forced himself to his room.

“I call shower first!” Chrom shouted from across the apartment. He heard Frederick yell something back in acknowledgement but he couldn't really understand what it was.

Chrom collected fresh clothes and took a quick shower, grateful for the warm water since it definitely helped out with his sore muscles. When he finished he dragged himself to his room and flopped down on the bed. He didn't plan on moving; he was perfectly comfortable where he was.

There was a sudden weight on the bed and a small chirp. Lucina was walking on his back and he could feel her paws digging into his spine. Her weight was comforting, and she laid down on the small of his back and began to purr as she kneaded him. Chrom ignored the pain, since she was a pretty tame cat and he knew that she was really comfortable. It was nice to make her feel comfortable; he loved his cat possibly too much. Lucina wasn’t a super vocal or affectionate cat, but whenever she noticed that Chrom was around she was all over him.

It was really cute. Lucina didn’t like it when he moved around too much, which was fine by him. Chrom closed his eyes, ignoring the fact that there was sun leaking into his room. It warmed him, actually.

“Lucina,” he called the cat’s name. Her tail thumped against his back. “Fluffy girl,” he hummed, reaching back the best that he could and scratching her. She nudged against his hand happily, and he wondered if going over to Robin’s so often has made her feel neglected. Lucina was a pretty independent cat, but she got needy if Chrom ignored her for long periods of time.

He felt guilty about it, so he shifted and picked up his girl before she could leave. Chrom trapped her under his arm, but she didn’t seemed to mind this time. Lucina was still purring and her eyes were closed as she cuddled up next to him. His phone buzzed, interrupting the peace of their cuddle session. Chrom picked it up and saw the best selfie he had seen of Robin yet. There was an unfamiliar dog licking his face but he looked so happy, and it looked as if it was a candid.

Robin: I met a new friend, his name is Oscar and he’s a big dog who think’s hes a lap dog

Chrom: Who does he belong to?

Robin: Some lady in the park, I was studying

Chrom: why are you studying in the park? Isn’t it cold out there, are you properly dressed??

Robin: calm down, Chrom. I’m warm enough, and I just went to a cafe anyways so now I’m toasty warm

Chrom: I don’t think toasty warm is a phrase

Robin: it is now

Chrom: You are just so cute sometimes

There was a large pause between the next text and Chrom realized what he had said. He wondered if he had taken a step too far. The two of them didn’t really compliment each other much, did they? Chrom couldn’t remember at the moment because maybe that was super forward. He suddenly felt embarrassed at what he sent, and wondered how Robin was going to say in response. Waiting patiently, Chrom looked down at his phone as if it were the enemy. What if the texts weren’t sending? Or what if Robin just wasn’t responding?

Chrom hadn’t been this worked up over someone in a long time. He ran a hand through his hair and Lucina looked at him, blinking slowly. Her light blue eyes glittered; a rare trait, he guessed. Chrom looked a lot like his cat. Thinking about Lucina made him feel a little bit better about Robin not responding.

Robin: Sorry, I was in line and ordering something to drink  
Robin: but thanks!!! You’re pretty handsome you know?

Chrom felt his face burn. He let out a weird noise, grabbing Lucina quickly and burying his face in her belly. Lucina protested loudly, wriggling out of his grip and running away. Chrom followed her with a betrayed gaze. How was he supposed to know that Robin was going to send him something so… cute? Goddamit, this was way worse and way more intense than what he thought it would be. He grabbed his pillow and shoved his face in it before responding to the text.

Chrom: thanks

There was no response after that and he assumed that Robin was probably doing something. Chrom got up suddenly, embarrassed, and went into the kitchen. Frederick gave him an odd look from where he was reading his book in the living room. “Is there something wrong, Chrom?”

“Robin called me handsome.”

“Hm,” Frederick responded. Chrom wondered what that meant. He knew that one of the reasons he hadn’t asked out Robin in the first place was due to them being strangers, but they weren’t strangers anymore, were they?

“Do you think I should ask him out? I feel like he likes me,” Chrom asked, grabbing an apple and joining Frederick on the couch.

“Maybe.”

It wasn’t a huge response. Frederick didn’t seem to chatty about the subject. “Do you think he’ll want to date you?”

“Yeah. It won’t be that different from our friendship, right?” Chrom looked at him, biting down on the apple. “Anyways, you don’t seem to like Robin. How come? I mean, he hasn’t done anything wrong by you. Has he?” If he had, then Chrom’s opinion could easily turn a 180.

“No, he hasn’t done anything to me,” Frederick replied, placing his book down. “There’s just something about him. I can’t place my finger on it, but he does make you happy. I suppose as long as you’re happy, I can’t really stop you,” Frederick finished, shrugging his shoulders. Chrom grinned at him.

“Thanks!” Frederick looked over at him again and Chrom was just grinning like a fool. “I know it might not feel like a big idea to you, but I do kind of want your blessing, I guess, before I date anyone. You’ve always been a good judge of character.” Chrom finished up his apple, getting up and throwing it away before returning to his best friend.

“I suppose so.” Frederick wasn’t talkative at the moment, so Chrom didn’t bug him. “I guess I am the same way with you. Although, you tend to be a little naive as well,” Frederick teased, bumping him with his shoulder gently.

“I am not naive!” Chrom protested.

“You are totally naive. You’ve been naive since I first met you.” Frederick looked at him, “You’re also a bit of a goof,” Frederick pointed out to him. Chrom didn’t say anything in response, mumbling a little bit under his breath. His phone buzzed again and he looked at it. It was Robin, talking about something have to do with winter break.

“Is that your crush?” The rare teasing tone was in Frederick’s voice and he gently kicked him.

“Shut up, and yes, it’s Robin.” It was the first time that he had admitted that he had an actual complete crush on Robin. At least out loud. He looked down at the message. “He’s asking about the fall break.”

“What about it? Do you think that’s when you’ll ask him out?” Frederick was suddenly asking a lot of questions.

“No,” Chrom muttered, looking at the message. “He’s going to his mother’s house over fall break and he’s just asking if I know a way to get his dogs there. Apparently his mom wants to see them.”

“Couldn’t he just ask his roommate?” Frederick raised an eyebrow.

Chrom read a new message. Just on time. “Apparently Gaius doesn’t know what to do. Besides, he’s going with Libra to his home town,” Chrom said, and shrugged.

Chrom: I’ll try to find something if you want me to?

Robin: No thanks though!! I’ll just keep looking stuff up, i’m sure I’ll find something

Chrom: Of course

Chrom looked at the texts again.

Chrom: we should hang out before you leave, that way I can kiss your pups noses one more time. And you can pet Lucina before you leave.

Robin: that sounds nice

Chrom grinned to himself. Frederick glanced at him but he didn’t say anything more. Instead, he had begun to read his book again. Lucina jumped onto Chrom’s lap and he ran his hand through her fur. She leaned up into the touch. Lucina was purring again and Chrom was wondering if he should ask Robin out before the fall break or if he should just wait. He frowned a little bit, looking down at Lucina, who looked back at Chrom, blinking slowly.

The living room was pretty silent, which he was fine with. Lucina had started to knead his thigh and he wondered what was up with her and bringing him pain lately. Of course, it wasn’t intentional, but didn’t she know that it hurt? Chrom sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back. Lucina was still purring in his lap happily, and he was fine.

He still wanted to ask Robin out and it sort of bugged him. Chrom guessed that he could be patient. Patience was a virtue, after all.


	14. Dirty Paws

It seemed that the days passed by extremely fast for Robin. It felt as if break, something that had been so out of reach for him, came rushing towards him all at once. It hit him like a whirlwind and soon enough Robin was packing his things up so that he could get ready to go to his mother's house. Gaius was on his bedroom floor, Morrigan was on top of him and Morgan laid on the bed.

“Bubbbleeessss,” Gaius whined. There was a brief pause, then Robin caught the sock that Gaius threw at him. “Please make sure that you get me your mother’s food. Please. It so good and it’s been forever.”

“Gaius, I already promised you that I’ll bring you leftovers of her pies and any other sweet thing that she makes,” Robin said with a small laugh.

“Good, because you owe it to me since I helped you find a time and a ticket for you to bring your dogs on the train without any issues.” Gaius looked at Robin as he finished up the last of his packing.

“And I am forever grateful,” Robin replied, rolling his eyes, but there was still a smile on his face. He was in an insanely light mood. He felt so happy to know that he was able to go home pretty soon. Robin had missed his mother, and he wanted to spend the time napping on her couch. Talk to her about his problems, and what his life had been like recently. Even though he said all of that over the phone, it wasn’t the same as him saying it in person. “My mom is going to be so excited to see the dogs.” Robin enjoyed the way that both of them wagged their tails when he mentioned the word ‘dogs’.

“Please send me daily pictures. I don’t think that I can survive a week without seeing them.”

Robin laughed at him. “I’ll send you pictures of the dogs. Don’t worry.” He didn’t even know why Gaius was making all of these requests. Robin was going to end up with leftovers anyways, and he also knew that he was going to end up sending pictures of the dogs. Gaius said that Robin was a terrible texter, so they just tended to send pictures back and forth to each other. In cases of long distance, Robin would just send pictures of cute animals he saw. Whenever he had the dogs in front of him, it would be that dogs that Robin would send.

“Good. If you didn’t then not only would you be the worst ex I’ve ever had, but you would also be the worst friend that I have ever had,” Gaius grumbled. “You would also be the worst best friend to ever exist, and the worst roommate.” Gaius was still talking about him being the worst and Robin tuned him out.

He was going to see his mother in a day. Robin felt so happy and light.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

You  
[8:00 PM] I’m on the train, I’ll see you soon <3

Mom  
[8:02 PM] I have food for when you come home

Robin smiled at the text that his mother sent. It wasn’t a big deal, but God, it felt so nice to be able to go home. His phone pinged again and he looked down to see the text that Chrom had sent him. That also made him smile, although he had to admit that not seeing Chrom for a week was really weird. Robin was so used to seeing him so often that not seeing him for a long period of time was definitely going to feel weird. Robin also had a crush on him, so maybe not seeing him for so long would be good.

Not that he didn’t want to have a crush on Chrom.

He did like Chrom a lot and he enjoyed having a crush on him, but he wasn’t going to go and beg for his attention constantly. Being away from Chrom would be nice for Robin, since it meant that he could clear his head and figure out what he wanted to do about the crush. Robin was caught between keeping their relationship the way that it was and asking Chrom out.

His phone pinged again, and he realized that he hadn’t responded to Chrom’s text. Maybe Chrom was texting him again to grab his attention. Or it was his mom.

Chrom  
[8:03 PM] Hey are you on the train?  
[8:05 PM] It’s cool if you are (obviously), just wanted to tell you that to have a nice trip and you can basically call and text me whenever you want

You  
[8:10 PM] Hey! Yeah, I’m on the train. Thank you :). Hopefully you have a fun trip visiting your sisters too.

Chrom  
[8:12 PM] You seem like you’re in a good mood, using an emoticon and everything

You  
[8:13 PM] Can you blame me? I guess I’m a bit of a momma’s boy

Chrom  
[8:16 PM] it’s nice

Chrom and Robin had talked about their families a few times. They didn’t really talk about it much, since it seemed almost like a sore topic between the two of them. Robin had father issues, and brother issues as well. Meanwhile, Chrom grew up with his only his sisters since he was in his early teens. Robin never really expanded on his issues with Chrom, and Chrom just mentioned it once, and that was that between them.

Robin wondered if the two of them should talk about it or if it should be something left as a blank space. Probably something they should talk about in the future, since if Robin was going to actually ask him out, (which was another thing he didn’t know about, maybe he could talk to his mom about that) Robin wanted to know more about him. Even without the asking out part, Robin wanted to know more.

It felt like a romantic thing, or a best friend type of thing. Chrom had a best friend in Frederick, and Robin didn’t know if they had a close enough friendship to talk about that type of stuff.

Robin knew that he himself had his reservations.

So maybe it was more of a thing of when they were both ready?

He was overthinking everything. He knew that.

You  
[8:20 PM] I guess? Some people might find it weird that I’m so attached to my mom  
[8:20 PM] When are you going to leave for your sister's place?

Chrom  
[8:22 PM] Soon.  
[8:23 PM] I’m leaving tomorrow, so it’s pretty soon  
[8:23 PM] I’m actually really excited, it’s been awhile since it’s just been us. Lissa is busy with med school and I’m busy with my own school, Emm is off being Emm. She’s probably the most stable out of all of us.

You  
[8:24 PM] I bet it’s going to be nothing short of enjoyable for you

Chrom  
[8:25 PM] I don’t know what we’re going to do for the majority of the time but that’s fine by me  
[8:25 PM] Also I don’t find it weird you’re attached to your mom, it’s not like you’re overly attached or anything  
[8:26 PM] she did raise you, so it’s only reasonable that you’re so attached to her, you know?

You  
[8:27 PM] Yeah, it is  
[8:27 PM] it’s still something that’s not really, thought of fondly I suppose?

Chrom  
[8:28 PM] Everyone assumes you’re Oedipus

You  
[8:30 PM] Ugh, gross, yeah

Robin yawned a little, worrying about his dogs a little bit, even though the two of them were close. They weren’t really the worst when it came to travelling, but he couldn’t help but be worried about them

Chrom  
[8:31 PM] you should try and get some rest, what time will you get home?

You  
[8:32 PM] Probably around in an hour or so, it would be good if I get some rest so i’ll talk to you later  
[8:32 PM] I’ll message you when I get there

Chrom  
[8:33 PM] okay, have a safe trip Robin

Robin pocketed his phone and leaned back on the seat. His worried thoughts about Morgan and Morrigan surfaced again. He knew that the two of them were good when travelling. They never seemed to run into issues before. The two of them tended to be calm dogs, but he was worried about how they would react to animals around them being anxious or upset. He didn’t like sticking them into kennels unless it was needed, and it was needed in this case since he couldn’t have them on a leash as they travelled to his mother's.

This was a new thing for the three of them. They had never went to Robin’s mother’s home before, since Robin didn’t like travelling such a long distance with them, but Robin guessed that they needed to travel together eventually. The train was a good way to travel for them, but Robin wished that he could have just driven with the two o f them instead of having to take the train. He let out a sigh and reminded himself that he would be able to get them out of the kennels soon enough.

He leaned his head against the window he was sitting next to. It was dark outside, pitch black in the area that they were going through. Robin closed his eyes, listening to the low humming of the train car as he fell asleep.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

When Robin woke up, it was 9:30 and the train was slowing down. He stood up carefully, stretching his arms and legs out. The train stopped and he grabbed his luggage from the overhead carriage before going to find his dogs. His mother couldn’t pick him up from the station, so he was going to have to call a cab if he wanted to get to her house. Which was fine by him, since he had the money to do so.

It takes him barely any time at all to get his dogs and call a cab. Robin spends a few minutes waiting, and when the cab shows up, (he was able to get one that allowed two giant dogs to sit in the backseat with him) he shuffles the dogs in.

You  
[9:35 PM] On my way, I’m in a cab

Mom  
[9:36 PM] okay, still waiting for you, do you want hot chocolate when you get here?

You  
[9:37 PM] Yes please

Robin was exhausted, and he could feel a headache beginning to set in. The cab dropped him off in front of his mother's home. Robin paid and tipped the cabbie before grabbing the dogs and walking up to the door. Robin knocked on the door and his mother answered it. At the sight of a new person that smelled like Robin, the dogs got excited.They had met Robin’s mother only once before, when she had visited him.

“Down,” he gently chastised the two of them. His mother let them in and Robin took off his shoes. “Can I let them sniff around?” He asked his mom, who nodded her head.

“Go ahead. You can take a shower and I’ll have your hot chocolate ready for you.”

Robin unclipped the dogs before standing to his full height. Robin’s mother threw her arms around him, holding him tightly to herself. “Welcome home,” she murmured, kissing his cheek.

“Thanks, Mom,” Robin said, smiling, and held her close. His mother was warm, and she smelled like his childhood. Everything rushed back to him, and he felt so happy to be out of his apartment and back in this house. He loved the apartment he had, but this was a place where he had his mother, and it was so nice.

Robin didn’t get a chance to text Chrom until he was in the bathroom and getting ready for a shower.

You  
[9:50 PM] I’m at my moms

Chrom  
[9:55 PM] that’s good to hear  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Robin woke up the next morning with one dog on top of him in his old bedroom. Morgan got off of him, stretching once he reached the floor and padding off. It hadn’t changed much from when he left for college, aside from a few decorations being removed since he had taken those with him. There were still those glowing stars on the ceiling, and his room was still littered in things about the occult and the occasional history book.

For a moment he just laid in bed, not making a move to get up. He could smell food and he heard his mom moving about in the house.

“Robin!”

Hearing his name being shouted reminded him of when he was a teenager, and Robin got up.

“Yeah, Mom?” He called out to her.

“Do you want coffee?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Robin told her before closing the bedroom door. He grabbed clothes so he could go and take a morning shower. Showering in the morning helped him wake up even though he had taken one the night before. Robin didn’t linger in the shower for long, and by the time he got downstairs, his mother had a mug of coffee waiting for him.

“Did you sleep well?” She asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Robin shared his mother's coloring -- if you set aside the fact that he had vitiligo and his mother did not.

“I did.” Robin sipped at the coffee. He looked at his mother, who was busy putting together breakfast. “You know I could have cooked this morning.”

“You got home late last night,” she said, waving a hand at him. “I was thinking we can go see a movie today? Then maybe go around town, since it's been a while.”

“That sounds nice,” Robin agreed, nodding his head. “Do you want to take a walk with the dogs with me?”

His mother grinned, her eyes lighting up. “Yes! Sometimes I still get upset that you got them without telling me, but I forgive you because they're such good pups.” His mother sighed a little and Robin smiled at her reaction. “Are there any other things in your life you haven't told me about?”

“I told you about the dogs when you visited, but no. I don't think there's a lot I'm not telling you. I have a crush on one of my friends, but I'm pretty sure I've told you about that before.” Robin shrugged and then his mom slapped his shoulder lightly. It didn't hurt and it was more like a light pat than it was a slap.

“Which friend? Is it Gaius again?”

Robin sipped at his coffee. “I'll tell you on our walk.”

“Why are you like this?”

“Because you raised me,” Robin responded. His mother snorted, nudging him with her shoulder before handing him a plate of food. It was so nice to be home.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

The air was colder there. His mother was holding Morrigan’s leash and Robin kept having to stop her from giving the dog too many treats. Apparently she had stocked up for the purpose of making Robin’s dogs fat.

“They're really good on a leash,” his mother commented. “You trained them well.” She looked over at him, then grinned. “Kinda like how I trained you.”

“Mom,” Robin sighed. He smiled still anyway. “They're good, for the most part. They haven't ran off of their leash in a while. The last time was… when I met Chrom, so I guess a few months? I don't know.” Robin shrugged his shoulders again. “The two of them are usually really good. It's only when something sets them off that they run away from me.” It was usually difficult to keep them on the lead if the two of them were both pulling. Robin wasn't super small, but the dogs were pretty big and he was only one man.

“Is Chrom the friend you have a crush on?”

It was weird talking to his mom now that he was older. Robin realized that she was still his mother, and she still acted like a mom, but the dialogue between the two of them had shifted a little bit. It seemed to be more friendly banter than anything else. Which was a little odd to him, but Robin guessed that when it came to growing up, this was just a part of it. He didn't dislike it, since now it meant that he and his mother could really just talk about anything.

“Yeah, he is. Wait, let me grab a picture of him.”

Chrom hadn't texted him that day and he was a little disappointed. Robin reminded himself that it was reasonable and he was probably on his way to see his family, so he wasn’t expecting a text, but he also was expecting a text since the two of them were almost constantly talking. Robin showed his mother a picture of Chrom.

“He’s cute. He looks a little like one of those douchebag guys you meet sometimes, but he is handsome.” His mother nodded her head. “So are you going to ask him out?”

“Maybe,” Robin muttered. “We both know that we were initially attracted to each other, so it's not a big deal. The reason we became friends is the fact that they were attracted to each other.” Robin remembered vaguely that neither of them were comfortable in dating a stranger, so they ended up friends. “I guess I'm just nervous about asking him out because I enjoy being friends with him. If he still likes me, that's great, but there's a chance that he wouldn’t like me anymore.”

His mother listened, then interjected. “I think you should go for it,” she said as he finished. “You don't have a lot to lose, do you? There is the friendship, but he knew that you were slightly into him to begin with. Being friends is something is nice, but if you both had that attraction then there's no need to deny it anymore.”

“I know. I also don't want to wait to ask him out, but I have to wait because we’re on break and we’re both with our families,” Robin sighed, sounding agitated. “No offense,” he added, looking over to his mom.

“Can't you just call him? Or ask if you can go on a date when you get home.” They were beginning to turn around and walk back to her house. Robin took in the sights of the street he grew up on since the end of middle school till the end of high school.

“Right, yeah, I might do that.”

“Good. Don't mope about it. That won't be fun for any of us.”  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Robin laid on the couch with his mom, who was wrapped in a blanket burrito. The dogs were sprawled out on the other end of the couch. They were watching some documentary that he hadn't been paying attention to for the last hour.

Chrom  
[12:30 PM] I'm finally home  
[image attachment]

Robin opened the image, seeing a selfie of Chrom with two blonde women he recognized as his sisters.

Robin  
[12:32 PM] nice, im watching some documentary with my mom

Chrom  
[12:33 PM] not paying attention?

Robin  
[12:35 PM] Not really, thinking about stuff

Chrom  
[12:37 PM] what about?

Robin hesitated.

Robin  
[12:38 PM] do you want to go on a date when we get back?

 


	15. Soft Belly

The worst thing about visiting his family was actually going to visit them. Chrom loved his sisters; they were the only family that he had ever since he was younger. Lucina was, of course, part of that family, but they were really his only living and breathing relatives. It had been a scary time when he was younger and having to consider the fact that he and Lissa may be split up in foster care.

Thankfully their saving grace had been Emmeryn, who was of age and fought to have her siblings underneath her custody. She was about five years than Chrom. It was still hard to look at her as a parental figure rather than just his sister. Eventually they got used to it, but it didn't mean that it still wasn't weird for them. Chrom never saw her as a mother and she never really forced them to see her that way.

It was a mess at the beginning but they managed to find a way to make it work. All three of them grew up sooner or later. He and Lissa were in college and Emm had already finished her education. They didn't live too far from each other. It was a close enough distance that Chrom was able to drive to his older sister's home.

He just hated getting there.

For one, he had woken up at three. He had taken a shower that was too warm and gotten dressed before clutching his personal items and scurrying out of his apartment like a cockroach fleeing light. Frederick had decided on staying home and he was going to take care of Lucina (he made sure to kiss the cat goodbye before he left the apartment, and she had let out a squeak before trying to follow him out the door).

Secondly, Chrom hated driving. Usually he didn't, but he hated driving such a long distance and he hated driving when he was tired. It was early enough that the highways weren't super busy. The coffee near him was fueling him and making sure that he wasn’t going to die.

Third, it was hard to text. He couldn't text at all when he was driving (because he was a safe driver, thank you very much) and only when he reached pitstops. He and Robin had texted last night and he didn't expect for the other man to text him this early. As his journey continued, he wanted to text Robin more, but he couldn't do that. Especially since the signal was fleeting, even at the pit stops. Chrom just wanted to be at Emmeryn’s home so that he could sleep and recoup.

He missed Lucina.

He also really missed Robin. Chrom knew that logically he would see him sooner, but he was still going to miss him. Chrom stared at the dingy coffee in front of him; the cashier looked as exhausted as he did. The faster he got to his sister's place, the better everything would be.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

“Chrom!”

Lissa was running out of the house as soon as Chrom got out of the car. Suddenly his arms were full of his tiny sister and he held her close, leaving his stuff behind. Her arms were wrapped around him and she was giggling up a storm.

“Lissa!” His bags had been discarded and were placed on the ground. He quickly let go of Lissa to grab his bags. “Where’s Emm?”

“She's inside, you should go and take a shower. I think she's making food but you look like you’re dying.” Lissa reached up and grabbed his face. Chrom let her push and pull at his cheeks. He grabbed her hands and pulled away.

“Thanks,” Chrom hummed, kissing her cheek before walking over to the house. He slipped off his shoes and took in the familiar sights. “Emmeryn, I'm home!” Chrom called out, pulling off his shoes and shrugging off the light jacket that he was wearing.

“Chrom!” Emmeryn’s voice was fond when she approached him. When he hugged her, he noticed that they were more matched in height than he and Lissa. Emmeryn was only a few inches shorter than him. She pulled away and placed her hands on his shoulders and he noted how much paler he looked in the comparison to the last time he had seen her. Was she exhausted?

“How was your ride here?” Her voice was gentle and she smiled at him.

“Long, as usual. But I'm here now.” Chrom smiled back at her.

“I'm making some food, I imagine you want to shower though. There’ll be food here for you want to eat,” Emmeryn told him once she had let go of him. She headed back off to the kitchen. Chrom couldn't help but smile; he was glad to be home. He sent a quick text message to Frederick, letting him know that he was safe and sound before going off to take that shower. Chrom sniffed himself absently. He guessed that he did sort of need a shower.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

By the time he got out of the shower, Lissa and Emmeryn were eating without him, which wasn’t a big deal. He just got himself some food before settling down with his sisters. The three of them were silent and he wondered how tired they all were. What time had Lissa gotten into town?

“Do you guys think you’ll be up to do anything today?” Emmeryn asked, looking at the two of them. Lissa hummed quietly. There was a spoon in her mouth and she was screwing up her face as she thought.

“Maybe? Depends on what you want to do,” Lissa said. “What about you, Chrom?”

“I kind of just want to nap,” Chrom admitted with a small shrug.

Lissa threw her head back with a loud groan. “Lame,” she whined, pouting at Chrom. “Why don’t you want to do anything?”

“I’ve been driving since three in the morning, Lissa.”

“Okay, so?”

Chrom stared at Lissa without blinking. Lissa stared back at him the exact same way.

“A lazy day wouldn’t be so bad.” Emm’s light voice broke their staring contest. “The two of you have been working hard, I’m sure. It’s probably better if we all rest today. Tomorrow we can go ice skating.”

Lissa cheered at the idea and Chrom laughed a little bit at how childish his sister still seemed to him.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Lissa had her feet in his lap as Chrom watched the random Resident Evil movie that she had put on. She was sucking on the string of her hoodie and Emmeryn hardly seemed to be paying attention.

“I don’t think that Las Vegas would be covered in that much sand that quickly. It’s only been five years,” Chrom grumbled.

“Sssh, Chrom, movie stuff is happening.”

“Movie stuff is scientifically inaccurate,” Chrom mumbled again. He looked over at Lissa, who just swatted at him. She was still laying her legs on top of him and Chrom just buried himself in a pillow so that he could focus on other things.

His social media was bleak, but he wasn't into the movie enough to actually pay a lot of attention to it. Robin texted him and Chrom replied, and the two of them began to text back and forth. Robin was with his mother, as far as Chrom knew, which meant that they were probably doing nothing if she didn't care that Robin was on his phone or hiding away. Chrom wondered if there were other family members there and if they were similar to Robin in behavior, or if Robin was the only Robin in his family.

Robin  
[12:38 PM] do you want to go on a date when we get back?

Chrom stared at the text for what felt like hours. He felt his face slowly heat up as he stared at it and he was aware of his sister’s gazes on him. Emmeryn had furrowed her brows and was looking at him in concern, while Lissa was just trying to see his messages. She all but threw the rest of her body on him.

“Let me see! Why are blushing? Did someone send you nudes?” Lissa reached for his phone and Chrom hung himself over the side of the couch to avoid her.

“Stoppp!” He pushed her away with his foot the best that he could.

“Guys,” Emmeryn spoke up, already sounding tired of their shit, and they both hadn't been there that long. “Lissa, just leave Chrom alone. Whatever it is, it's private and we have to respect that.”

Chrom sat up and stuck his tongue out at Lissa.

“Yeah, respect my privacy.”

Lissa tried to snatch his phone again and he fell off of the side of the couch completely. Without pause, he got up and ran for his room in an effort to hide from Lissa. She started after him, but she didn’t end up following, him which was surprising. Maybe she was feeling lazy that day. Chrom also hid from Emmeryn, because he knew that she wasn't going to uphold her privacy respecting rules for too long. She was going to get curious too.

Robin  
[12:45 PM] Chrom? Did I upset you?

Shit.

Chrom   
[12:46 PM] Shit no sorry I had to wrestle my phone away from Lissa and it was a huge mess, I fell off the couch

Robin  
[12:47 PM] are you okay?

Chrom  
[12:47 PM] perfectly fine! When should we go on a date?

Robin   
[12:49 PM] so you want to go on a date then?

Chrom  
[12:50 PM] of course

Robin  
[12:51 PM] good!!! Good

Chrom  
[12:51 PM] yeah! So, when should we actually go on a date?

Robin  
[12:53 PM] I don't really know, I hadn't expected you to read the message so quickly I was honestly hoping for a pause between you seeing the message AND me dying

Chrom   
[12:54 PM] there was that pause, except you saw that I saw the message

Robin  
[12:54 PM] yeah

Chrom stared at his phone for a few moments. Suddenly things seemed awkward, but maybe he was just being a big baby about nothing. Maybe there was nothing awkward at all about their interaction and he was just hallucinating things. Why was he getting nervous again?

Chrom  
[12:57 PM] so about that date  
maybe we can just keep it simple?  
[12:58 PM] it's not like we need to go full out or anything

Robin  
[12:59 PM] does a movie sound good?

Chrom  
[12:59 PM] a movie sounds great

Chrom felt like he was dying. The two of them had agreed to meet up as friends before but never on a date. He knew they got along easily but he couldn't help but be giddy and excited about this like the two of them were going to prom. Chrom ran a hand through his hair, tempted to screenshot the messages and send it to Frederick with some sort of victory yell. Chrom was going to ask out Robin, but Robin had beaten him to the punch. Yeah, it had been through text, but who cared? It was still going to be a date with Robin. Chrom realized how long it truly took them to get to this point.

Robin  
[1:02 PM] cool! We can just meet up at the theaters or something

Chrom  
[1:03 PM] i’ll pick you up, but we can figure out the rest when we actually go for that date

Robin  
[1:03 PM] that’s true, okay

There was sudden knock on his door. “Chrom, stop hiding inside of your room. I want the details on your supposed date,” Lissa whined, and he heard her jiggle the doorknob. Chrom slammed his back against the door, putting the majority of his weight onto it so that she couldn’t open the door.

“Later, Lissa. Go away,” Chrom called back, frowning a little bit.

“I haven’t seen you in forever! I want to be around you 24/7! Let me innn.”

Chrom got off of the door and Lissa came flying in. He looked at his sister before sending a very quick text to Robin, letting him know that he was going to go MIA.

Chrom  
[1:05 PM] gtg

“Are you texting Robin?” Lissa asked him. She was on the floor now, looking up at him.

“Yeah.”

“So, what was the text about? You turned bright red as soon as you saw it.” Lissa wiggled her eyebrows. “Are you two finally taking the next step? Are you finally going to kiss that cute, white haired man?” Chrom felt his cheeks heat up a little bit and he looked away from Lissa before nodding his head.

“I’m hoping I kiss him, at least. It’s just going to be a date.”

Chrom wondered if Robin was the type who kissed on the first date. They had known each other for so long, so maybe it was possible that they were going to kiss? He tried not to think about it too much because there was a chance he may melt through the floor. Lissa was staring at him with a stupid expression on her face.

“Wait, so the two of you are actually going on a date? That’s so cute! Oh my God, Chrom, what are you two going to do?”

“We’re going to see a movie, which isn’t a whole lot,” Chrom mumbled as he sat down on the floor next to Lissa. She shifted so it was easier to look at him. “I don’t even know when or what movie we’re going to see. We decided to leave the details vague until we both come back from our vacations.”   
Chrom suddenly wanted to know all of the details. He wanted to skype Robin and just talk to him; he wanted to call him and talk for hours. Chrom suddenly missed him a lot more than he thought he would.

“You’re so far gone for him,” Lissa chirped. Chrom groaned, covering his face with his hands.

Chrom let out a whine next, flopping down on the floor. He winced a little. That had been a bad idea, since the floor was wood and his head hit it too harshly for his comfort.

“Yeah, I really am. I also really miss his dogs. And my cat. Oh God, Lissa, what if Lucina doesn’t like Robin’s dogs?”

“Lucina only likes you and Frederick.”

“I think she likes Robin.”

“Marry him.” Lissa sounded sarcastic, but the gleam in her eyes sort of told Chrom that she may be a little bit serious about what she just said. Chrom shifted again, looking at his sister.

“I am so gay for this man,” Chrom said seriously after a very quiet moment. He pulled his phone out in excitement. “Look at him!” He began to show Lissa some pictures, looking at his sister and then at his phone.

“He’s so pretty! He looks so happy and cute. God, I’m so excited to finally go on a date with him. I’ve been waiting for so long. Like, we haven’t been dating because we wanted to be friends first and get to know each other, so it was pushed to the back. But now we’re finally going on a date and it’s actually happening when we come home,” Chrom gushed, seemingly without pause.

Lissa stared at him, her face slowly becoming more and more amused as Chrom kept going. Eventually he just pressed his hands into his face to hide his expression. Chrom was reminded of when they were both younger and they would spend ages just talking on the floor. Emmeyrn would sometimes join in, but a lot of the time it would just be him and Lissa. Chrom could feel nostalgia creeping up and he looked over at Lissa, who was still staring at him with such a dumb face.

“Stop staring,” he mumbled through his hands.

“You’re just so cute! Emm! Chrom has such an adorable crush!” Lissa was getting up, slipping a little bit since running on a hardwood floor in socks wasn’t the best idea. Emmeyrn came to Chrom’s room, looking down at him on the floor with one eyebrow raised.

“Is this your sophomore year again?”

“No, it’s better. I’ve mentioned Robin before, right? We’re going on a date when we get home and I’m so excited I think I’m going to die.”

“He was ranting about Robin for a full minute! His face turned so red,” Lissa snickered at Chrom. Chrom glared at her.

“Well, hopefully we both meet Robin soon. Especially if Chrom plans on making him his boyfriend,” Emm said, looking at Lissa with a small smile on her face. Chrom let out a noise that sounded similar to a dying cat. This was why he was never going to introduce Robin to his sisters. They were both going to kill him. They were going to give Robin every piece of blackmail that ever existed on him.

“You’re never meeting Robin. I’m cancelling the date. I’m going to stop talking to him. I can’t let you guys meet him ever.”

Chrom looked at the two of them and they both just looked so amused and strangely proud. Emmeryn grabbed his phone, and Lissa went back down next to him with Emm following after. She opened his camera, taking a photo of all three of them.

Lissa and Emmeryn were smiling. Lissa sported a wide grin and Emm had a gentle smile. Chrom just looked embarrassed, an angry blush on his face. Robin had sent a him a text and Emmeryn, knowing his passcode, sent Robin the picture in reply. Chrom didn’t protest or fight her. He just let his older sister do what she wanted. The picture wasn’t that bad either, not like it was anything super embarrassing.

“Oh, he responded,” Emmeryn said, sounding positively pleased by this. Chrom looked at the message.

“What did he say?” Lissa asked, attempting to see the phone better by basically throwing herself on top of Chrom. Chrom gently shoved her off, and Lissa pouted at him. “I want to see.”

“You don’t need to see.” Chrom really did feel like they were back in high school again.

“Yes, I do!” Lissa rolled her eyes, frowning at Chrom but not saying much else.

“Robin said that you looked cute and then something that sounds flirty, but I can’t really tell,” Emmeryn reported, handing the phone to Chrom.

Robin  
[1:13 PM] cute  
[1:14 PM] who had you blushing like that

“He’s totally flirting!” Lissa gasped when she read the message. “Saucy.”

“Oh my god,” Chrom groaned, horrified. He pocketed his phone and covered his face again. Lissa burst into laughter next to him, with Emmeryn joining in.


	16. Shedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta'd

Knowing that a date with Chrom was coming up soon, Robin couldn't help but feel more and more giddy by each second. His mother commented on his good mood and since he texted Gaius about the upcoming date, Chrom was all that he could talk about with the ginger man. It seemed like he was back in high school with a crush on the boy in his AP Gov class. Except this time he was in college and neither Chrom or Robin were high school boys.

Gushing about Chrom in his childhood bedroom did not erase him feeling as if he was a high school student again. And even though he was having fun with his mom (he had forgotten how loud of a drunk he was, and how he seemed to follow in her footsteps which meant that their house was full of loud laughter for a good solid night) he wanted the break to be over so he could get back to Chrom. The amount of giddiness that he felt was amazing and Robin couldn't help but turn bright red whenever Chrom texted him something about the upcoming date.

He wondered if Chrom felt the same way. Probably not and Robin was probably being extra about it. But he didn't have time to worry about that when he was busy with dealing with his mom and trying to think of ideas for him and Chrom to do when he got back. There were so many options yet Robin could only think of them ordering take out and cuddling on the couch with a movie.

It didn't sound like a bad idea.

A blanket was tossed on top of his head. “What do you want to eat for dinner?” His mother asked.

“What?”

“Oh my god Robin I've you this five times, you're zoned out on your phone. What do you want to eat for dinner?” There was an edge of frustration his mother's voice and Robin felt guilty for not paying attention.

“Pizza?”

His mom sighed and Robin finally pulled the blanket off of his head. “Okay, I'm going to be cooking all day tomorrow anyways so I’m cool with not cooking tonight. What toppings do you want?” She had gone into the kitchen and was searching through the fridge.

Robin thought about it for a moment. “Pepperoni,” be answered.

“Going to give yourself heart burn,” his mother commented

“I'm not, I'm still young and fresh,” Robin rolled his eyes. His mom sat next to him on the couch, dialing the number for pizza. He leaned on her shoulder the way that he used to when he was little and she stroked her hair as she spoke to the person on the other line. He closed his eyes and just relaxed. he was younger, his mother ran her hands through his hair. The feeling of her fingers just relaxed him further. She finished on the phone and neither of them spoke as she put some movie on. Robin opened his eyes, blinking blearily at what she had put on. It was some movie that was totally something that his mother would watch when she was home alone and probably feeling lonely. A wet nose prodded at his foot and Robin lifted his head, looking at Morrigan who was wagging her tail and giving him puppy eyes. Morgan was at the door, sitting patiently.

“Go walk your dogs,” his mom looked at Robin. Robin slowly got up.

“I’m going to,” Robin stretched. He pocketed his phone into his sweatpants and grabbed their leashes. “Do you want to walk with me?”

“No, I’ll stay here in case the pizza gets here when you’re out on your walk,” his mom took up the entire couch, stretching as she did. Robin pulled on his boots, snow had fallen the night before and had turned into ice. He didn’t want to bust his ass walking the two large massive beasts that he could his pets.

“Alright,” Robin put the collars onto the dogs before their leads, easily getting them outside. As soon as they got out Morgan was eagerly sniffing the snow that was left on the ground. There wasn't a lot of it but he happily shoved his face in whatever snow he could find. Robin wished that he had worn gloves, leading the dogs around so that they could use the bathroom or at the very least get out some energy that they may have stored up. Morrigan was sniffing poles, almost licking one of of curiosity but Robin tugged her away in time.

The walk wasn't very long and he found his way back to his mom's house, letting the dogs off of their leads before entering himself. His phone buzzed in his pocket, “I'm back.” He announced as he looked at the message. There wasn't anything from Chrom (apparently he was going to be busy for a while which made Robin sad, since he couldn't constantly talk to him but he understood). It was just an email reminding him that one of his subscriptions were going to renew automatically. Robin placed his phone back into his pocket.

Morrigan had curled up in front of his mom's fire place and Morgan was attempting to get into the kitchen, probably trying to beg for a piece of pizza that he was never going to get. Robin followed after Morgan, except that he was actually able to get pizza.

“Did they use the bathroom?”

“Yeah, Morrigan almost licked a really gross pole and I had to stop Morgan from rolling around in the ice snow,” Robin chewed on a pizza slice. His mother snorted.

“You know I had to stop you from doing both of those things when you were younger. They take after you,” she smiled at him and Robin rolled his eyes automatically.

“Don't roll your eyes at me, it's true. You were such a little shit. A cute one but still a little shit, did you know that I grounded you from reading and you cried for the entire time?”

Robin picked a piece of pepperoni off, eating it separately. “Yes mom I remember. I was ten, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind. Probably something that I should talk about to release the emotional scarring that WAS you reading the Harry Potter series and not allowing me to find out who won the Goblet of Fire,” it had been a rough two weeks.

“I still can't believe that Cedric died,” his mom shook her head. “I barely remember the hook other than that, if it's any consolation,” it wasn't but Robin was too busy eating to come back with a retort. When was the last time he had had pizza? Robin was pretty sure that this was the most he had eaten in months. His mother kept commenting that he was too skinny and he hadn't even thought that he had lost weight until he actually got good into his system at a constant rate.

It was mainly his fault for not eating properly unless someone made him eat properly.

His mom and him didn't talk, Morgan whined from where he sat in the doorway. “Go away fat boy,” Robin shooed the dog.

“His chub is beautiful,” his mother defended.

“He's my fat boy,” Robin replied. “He's mainly just fur but you can still tell that he's chubby underneath it,” Morrigan ate the same amount as her brother but he was still somehow heavier than her, not including the fact that he was a male dog.

“Chubby baby. My chubby grandson,” his mom cooed. Morgan came into the kitchen, wagging his tail.

“No, no get out. Doggies don't belong in the kitchen,” Robin shooed him out again.

“But he's cute,” his mom whined.

“But he's going to beg and then h’ll just be annoying,” even Robin had to admit that his pets got annoying sometimes. He felt as if all pet owners got annoyed with their animals eventually, no matter how much they loved them. And Robin loved his dogs a lot.

“Okay, fine,” his mother sounded like a reluctant teenager. Robin just figured that he was fine with that. He hadn't seen her in forever (although he was wanting to go back to his apartment by then, he only had one day left and he knew that when he left he was just going to miss his mom and his old room).

They just continued to eat pizza in the kitchen silently. Robin managed to eat the whole box.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Robin woke up the next morning from a pizza coma. He had passed out on the couch during an episode of some Netflix original series that seemed to be specially designed for mothers. A dog was licking his face, and he shifted to look at Morrigan who pressed her nose to his cheek. It was early, Robin could feel the dawn light on his cheek and noted the light blue glow of his bedroom. He got off of the couch, again grabbing a jacket and pulling on his shoes.

Like the night before he took the dogs out for a walk, frowning at the chilly air. When he got back his mother was up and was in the kitchen, beginning to make breakfast and the other tons of food that she always made. It was like a tradition. Robin didn't know what it was a tradition for but it was a tradition.

Chrom had texted him when he was sleeping, just a bunch of pictures of the event that he and his sisters had went out too. Robin saves the picture of Chrom underneath fairy lights with a wide grin on his face, looking like he was caught mid laugh.

You  
[7:00 AM] you had fun last night

Chrom was probably asleep still, Robin wished that he had a nice picture to send back to him but him and his mother hadn't gone anywhere special enough to take nice pictures off. He just sent photos of the dogs sniffing around in the parks and figured that that was good enough, right?

Robin wandered in the kitchen, looking into the fridge despite his mom cooking. He sighed, then looked at her. “I'm going back to bed,” he told her. His mom nodded her head and he headed to his old bedroom, where he curled up underneath the sheets and tried to go to back to bed.

He succeeded.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Robin woke up around the late morning, his eyes seemed determined to stay shut. Robin slowly sat up, forcing himself out of bed and to greet the dogs who had waited outside the door (he hadn't meant to close it, but he felt bad about doing it since the dogs were always sad when he shut them out of the room).

Robin scratched them both behind the ears before wandering over to the kitchen. There was a plate of food waiting for him. Robin was leaving that night so he was going to stock up as much food as he possible could. Gaius was probably going to eat a lot of the food, and it'll be gone within a week.

He ate the food in the kitchen, not bothering to go and find a place to seat. Robin was too lazy to make coffee, it was just going to be one of those days where he slept. Robin also had no idea where his mom was.

Chrom  
[8:30 AM] I did, you're going home today aren't you?

You  
[9;00 AM] I fell back asleep, but yeah i am. My mom is basically stuffing me with food because I'm leaving

Chrom  
[9:01 AM] good morning, at least you'll have a lot of food to eat when you get home

You  
[9:03 AM] the best part of my trip has been eating honestly  
[9:04 AM] and asking you out but I could have done that at any point

Chrom  
[9:05 AM] I keep thinking that what happened wasn't real  
[9:06 AM] I come home a day after you so we can plan something soon, do you have any ideas?

You  
[9:07 AM] we have a lot of options considering where we live  
[9:07 AM] but honestly I just want something lowkey  
[9:08 AM] I was thinking a movie night st one of our places, and just chilling on the couch?

It was similar to what they did before they had set up a date. Robin didn't know if they could be considered a couple at this point. He wanted to be dating Chrom, wanted to be considered his boyfriend. But that was a conversation that could wait until after they were finished with a first date. Or something that they could talk about on the first date. Either way, it wasn't something they should talk about before.

Robin didn't want to seem too eager.

The shower turned on, making him jump. He guessed that his mom was in the bathroom then.

Chrom  
[9:10 AM] That sounds nice tbh  
[9:10 AM] I've been out basically all week so I'm excited for just relaxing

Robin smiled at the message. He was honestly to just relax with Chrom too. Especially because it gave him an excuse to cuddle up next to Chrom. God he was so gone over this man, Robin sunk to the kitchen floor. He had finished eating and was just sitting on the floor, texting Chrom.

You  
[9:13 AM] cool!  
[9:13 AM] should it be your place or mine?

Chrom  
[9:14 AM] Your place doesn't sound bad, I can steal as many leftovers as I want that way

You  
[9:15 AM] a reasonable thing

After a moment, Robin got off of the kitchen floor and headed to the living room. He took a nap there, waking up in intermissions to make sure that he had everything that he needed packed. Also to walk the dogs and just give himself some personal cate so he was dehydrated and starving.

Robin slept for the majority of the day. Maybe it was bad to sleep so much when it was the last day that he could spend with his mother before he left back for school. But Robin slept anyways, unable to keep himself awake because of how much he was sleeping. When he woke up for good, Robin went and took a quick shower. It was enough for him to wake up and he pressed a kiss against his mom’s cheek. She was packing him up some left overs.

“How did you sleep?” She asked, raising an eyebrow and looking amused at seeing him awake.

“I slept good, ready for the long ride home,” Robin replied.

“I’m not ready for you to leave. It doesn’t feel like it’s been a week at all, I’m going to miss you,” his mother wrapped him in a tight hug and Robin hugged her back. “I’m also going to miss your dogs, they’re such good puppies. My grandpuppies,” she sighed wistfully at the thought and Robin couldn’t help but let out a slight laugh.

“I think you love them more than I do.” Robin commented.

“Of course, but it might be because I rarely get to see them,” his mother tapped her finger against his nose. “Are you all packed and ready?”

“Yeah, I am. I just have to get the dogs ready,” they didn’t like travel but they were obedient in the regard that they weren’t super fussy.

“Don’t forget to pack your food,” his mother handed him a bag full of leftovers. “I’ll call you a Lyft, you get the dogs ready,” Robin wondered how sad his mom was to see him leave again. He pressed a kiss against her cheek.

“Thanks mom,” he told her. “Are you tagging along with me to the station or are you staying home?”

“I’ll just stay here, I don’t want to spend money on two Lyft’s,” Robin’s mother hadn’t driven since he was a teenager. She didn’t seem to mind it that much, since she could walk to whatever it was that she needed in town. But Robin wondered how much it burdened her when she needed to go somewhere else.

“Okay,” he nodded his head. Robin went to collect the dogs, placing his food in one of his bags. The dogs were complicant, his mom watched him from the living room doorway with a sad and fond expression on her face. It was sometimes a huge mission to transport the dogs in their kennels but Robin had more upper body strength than someone would assume when they looked at him. It was from carrying the dogs.

“Ready now?”

“Yeah,” he nodded his head. His mom smiled at him.

“Your Lyft is outside,” she said and he looked at her before wrapping her up in a hug. He picked her up a little bit, not able to hold her for long though. “I’ll see you again soon, okay Robbie? Call me, I’m your mother,” she pressed a kiss against his cheek.

“I will, don’t worry,” he smiled at her and she smiled back at him. Robin left his house for what felt like the hundredth time.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Chrom  
[9:30 PM] Are you on your way home?

Robin  
[9:30 PM] yeah, im on the train, might go into a deadzone since trains dont really have the best signal. There’s wifi on here but it’s kind of crappy tbh

Chrom  
[9:35 PM] That’s okay, safe travels, Robin.

Robin  
[9:38 PM] thank you <3 i’ll message you when i get to our town’s station

Robin pocketed his phone, leaning back and listening to the train and the music playing from his earbuds. He should have downloaded some movies onto his phone before he left proper wifi. Robin couldn’t fall asleep either, since he had slept the day away. He guessed there were worst positions to be in. He was just incredibly bored and wanted to be cuddled up next to Chrom, with his dogs on top of him.

Robin already missed his mom, and it hadn’t been that long since the two of them had separated.


	17. Pink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about last week, I have writers block lmao

Spending time with his family was incredibly relaxing. Although the three of them talked to each other all of the time on Skype and through text, it was better in person.

His sisters, although occasionally teasing and mischievous, were probably the best sisters that Chrom could have asked for. They were both understanding and gentle, and Chrom felt a little bit bad about abandoning them early so that he could go back and see his _crush_ , of all things. Chrom had basically jumped during breakfast when he saw the text from Robin stating that he had made it home safe. A longing came into his chest and he stared at his phone.

Chrom wasn’t even aware that he was making a face, or that he was showing any emotion at all about his longing until Emmeryn spoke up about it.

“Are you okay, Chrom?” Emmeryn’s voice had drawn his attention from the screen and Chrom allowed himself to look up at his older sister. His head had basically snapped up, and he stared at her with wide eyes for a moment. Chrom blinked slowly before realizing what she had asked him.

“I’m fine,” he had answered. It hadn’t been a lie. Chrom was honestly fine in that moment of time, and Emmeryn stared at him for a moment.

“Are you sure?” A follow up question, meant to double-check whether or not he was lying to her. Chrom appreciated the sentiment, although he knew that if he had actually been upset that it would have been something to annoy him.

Chrom shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah. It’s just that Robin got back to his place from his mom;s. I just feel really gay and I want to be with him,” Chrom admitted. A light blush had appeared on his face. Chrom seemed to blush pretty easily, at least when it came to Robin.

Emmeryn nodded her head thoughtfully. “Maybe you should go and see him?”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Chrom was now the one asking the questions. “Are you sure? I don’t think that I need to really leave to go and see him.”

“Go and see who?” Lissa jumped onto the couch, looking at the two of them. She laid on it upside down, staring at both of her older siblings.

“Robin. Chrom wishes to be with him, since Robin apparently is back at his own apartment,” Emmeryn answered for Chrom. Chrom stared at her for a little bit, pouting just a little bit but not saying anything. “I’m saying that he should just go and leave early so that the two of them can be together. However, Chrom is saying that he shouldn’t leave.”

Lissa had been paying attention to her, seeming to ponder what Emmeryn had said for a moment before looking over at Chrom. “Why shouldn’t you leave?” She took her attention off of their older sister, focusing on her brother. Her eyes were so bright, and her brows were furrowed with a silent question on her face. Chrom couldn’t help but look away, feeling a bit weird about admitting this to both of his sisters.

  
“I don’t want to leave you guys early. I barely get to see you now and I don’t want to ruin our family time,” Chrom mumbled. It was really awkward for him to say that. His sisters had always been easy to talk to, and things hadn’t changed as they grew older. According to them, Chrom was a bit of an idiot when it came to his own emotions and other people. At this point he understood, since he hadn’t recognized that one of his closest friends, Sumia, had been pining after him for the entirety of high school until she confessed at graduation.

Because of this, Chrom had a large amount of trust in both of his sisters. They seemed to trust him as well, even though he didn’t practice much of the advice that he got. After all, he needed someone to help him point out how stupid he was being about something obvious.

Lissa stuck her tongue out at Chrom. “Well, that’s dumb.” She stated it blankly, rolling her eyes. Lissa sat up, carefully twisting on the couch so that she didn’t hit either of her siblings as she adjusted herself to be sitting properly on the couch. As properly as she could get, anyways, as she had her feet tucked underneath her and her knees were touching both Chrom and Emmeryn.

“What?” Chrom didn’t mind how blunt she had been. “What do you mean?” He looked at his sister, sticking his finger in one of her curls. He carefully pulled it out, watching how it bounced back into place. Lissa had the same hair that their mother had had, it had always been her pride. Chrom had once gotten a lollipop stuck in her hair when they were incredibly little, and she had sobbed when his parents cut it out.

“I mean that if you want to go and spend time with your possible, soon-to-be boyfriend, then go spend time with him!” Lissa spoke with her hands. Out of all three of them, she was the most expressive. Emmeryn was the diplomat, and Chrom was just Chrom.

“I agree with Lissa,” Emmeryn nodded her head. “Chrom, you have spent your entire life up until college with us. You visit us whenever possible, and we constantly have family Skype calls. And although I do miss you dearly, I think that if you want to go and see Robin you should.” Emmeryn reached forward and placed her hand on Chrom’s knee. “Not to sound corny or anything, but you should follow your heart. And if your heart is wishing to be with Robin, then be with Robin.”

Chrom couldn’t help but laugh a little bit at the cliche message that his sister gave him. “I guess,” Chrom said after a moment. “If you guys are both cool with it, I’ll go back and see him. I miss Lucina too. Knowing her, she’s probably not being satisfied by Frederick’s scratches. He can’t seem to get her spots right.” Chrom shook his head. Frederick was an old high school friend, and he was so careful in everything except for petting Lucina.

The larger man didn’t seem to understand that she was going to attack him if he attempted to pet her stomach.

“Of course you miss your cat, Chrom,” Emmeryn shook her head and Lissa laughed.

“He’s going to become one of those cat ladies,” Lissa commented.

“Stop it,” Chrom grumbled.

“Are you leaving tonight?” Emmeryn changed the topic back to what they had been originally talking about. Chrom paused and thought about it.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe? I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of stuff to pack, it’ll just mean that I get there at an odd time. But I can easily sleep that off,” Chrom admitted. “Maybe I’ll leave around noon?” Chrom rubbed his chin as he thought about it.

“Whenever you decided to leave, tell me so that I can make sure that you have food to take home with you,” Emmeryn said.

“I don’t need any leftovers, don’t worry,” Chrom gave her a bright smile. “I’m pretty sure that our fridge wouldn’t be able to fit left overs.” Frederick was on top of everything. That included making sure that Chrom or him bought the right amount of groceries.

“Are you positive?”

“Of course he’s positive Emmeryn. Let me take all of those leftovers,” Lissa answered instead of Chrom, looking at their older sister. Emmeryn laughed lightly and then nodded her head.

“If you want them, Lissa, the leftovers belong to you,” she agreed, and Lissa grinned as if she had gotten the best deal in the world. Chrom shook his head. “Chrom, if you are going to leave around noon you should go around the house and make sure that you have everything now.” Emmeryn looked at him, going from slightly amused to serious quickly.

“Good idea,” Chrom nodded his head in agreement. He stood up and stretched. “I don’t have much scattered throughout the house, but I don’t want to leave anything here,” he mumbled. Lissa had gotten up and wandered into the kitchen. Emmeryn took up the space on the couch, stretching out as she took out a book.

Nerd. Who read for fun anymore? (Robin. Robin read for fun all of the time, another thing that just made Chrom’s heart ache for him).  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁  
Chrom wondered how he managed to get so messy in less than a week. His stuff had been thrown all over the place. Apparently he had a bad habit of leaving sweaters and socks scattered about.

It took him about an hour to finish gathering the things that he had left strewn about the house, which was a lot faster than he thought it would be. Because of fast he had picked up, Chrom managed to leave around the early morning.

He packed them all away, along with everything else that he had taken to his old home. Took a quick shower, grabbed some food for the road, and left his sisters with a hug and a kiss on the cheek for both of them.

It felt odd to leave early, but he went along with it because of the encouragement.

The highway was pretty full, since it was about midday and Chrom realized that he should have travelled at an earlier or a later time if he wanted to avoid this traffic. It was too late to turn back now, so he just continued on, trying not to grow frustrated at the lack of movement.

It was also terrible to be in traffic because Chrom was the type who didn’t text on his phone at all. Yeah, he’ll put on a playlist and leave that on shuffle, or maybe adjust the GPS when he had the chance, but other than that he didn’t like touching his phone. Usually he was so zoned out on driving and focused on it that he didn’t even think about touching his phone. Which, Chrom now realized as he was stuck in traffic, was frustrating. What if his sisters were texting him? What if Robin was texting him?

Chrom let out a small sigh, just glancing over at the GPS that was on his phone. The traffic should be clearing up ahead of him. The cars around him were moving faster and Chrom relaxed a little bit.

He didn’t know why the traffic was frustrating him more than it usually did.

It didn’t really matter to him, he just drove and focused on getting back to his apartment.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁  
The rest of the trip was pretty much uneventful. Chrom stopped at one point to grab a sandwich before he got back on the road again. He got the chance to text back people who had sent him messages.

Robin  
[2:30 PM] Do you ever wake up in the afternoon and wonder why your life has become this way  
[2:32 PM] I don’t think I want to do anything today  
[2:34 PM] But I’m also super hungry, so there’s that,,...

Frederick  
[2:50 PM] Lucina will not let me brush her fur. I don’t want her to get a furball.

Chrom  
[2:51 PM] Don’t worry about brushing her, I’m almost home

Frederick  
[2:53 PM] How much longer?

Chrom  
[2:55 PM] About two hours maybe? Depends on the traffic from here on out

Frederick   
[3:00 PM] Safe travels then. I’ll see you soon, Chrom.

Chrom  
[3:01 PM] See you soon Frederick.

After a moment he paused and looked at Robin’s messages. He had sent a few messages and the messages ended with just Robin saying that he was probably bothering him and saying that he would talk to Chrom soon. Chrom smiled a little bit.

Chrom  
[3:02 PM] Hey! You’re not bothering me, just driving back home so I can’t text

Robin  
[3:03 PM] I thought you weren’t coming home for a while ?

Chrom  
[3:04 PM] I decided to come home early

Robin   
[3:06 PM] Cool! I’ll see you at some point, not immediately after you get back because you’ll probably be tired

Chrom  
[3;07 PM] I’ll text you when I get home, we should also decide on a date for us to get together and watch stuff with our pets

Robin  
[3:08 PM] Alright, have a nice drive back home, be as safe as possible

Chrom smiled at the message and pocketed his phone. He headed back to his car and climbed inside, setting up the music and the GPS again. When he began to drive, he felt like his mood had improved. It was probably because of how close he was getting to home. It was definitely because of talking to Robin. Whenever he spoke to the other man, it just made him really happy.

Chrom was so hung up over Robin, so much so that it was almost unbearable.

He just continued to drive so that he could get home faster, and so that he could get back to his cat as well.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁  
Somehow, Chrom managed to arrive early at his apartment. He found his parking spot, collecting his stuff from his back seat. He climbed upstairs, setting his stuff down near the door so he could take off his shoes. As soon as he took his shoes off, Lucina came up and greeted him. The cat meowed, rubbing herself around his legs.

“Hey, princess!” he greeted the cat, leaning down and scratching her behind the ears. Lucina purred happily. “Frederick? I’m home,” Chrom called out. Frederick came out of his hallway, looking at Chrom.

“Did you have a good drive?” Frederick asked Chrom, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the doorway.

“I did,” Chrom smiled at him. He got off of the floor from where he was playing with Lucina and collected his things. “The traffic cleared up after a while, which was good because I got here faster, obviously.”

“Lucina missed you. There’s leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry. If anything, you can order something to eat,” Frederick said, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s nice to have you home.” His old friend smiled just slightly before going back to his room. Chrom followed after him but turned into his own room, setting down his stuff. He was going to have to organize the clothing so that he could find what was dirty and what wasn’t and do some laundry.

Chrom  
[6:00 PM] I got home safely

Robin  
[6:01 PM] good!! I’m glad you did, how soon do you want our date to be?

Chrom  
[6:02] Can you do tomorrow?

Was that too eager? Chrom hoped that it wasn’t too eager. He just really wanted to spend time with Robin. Robin hadn’t responded after a moment and Chrom worried that he had actually scared the other man off.

  
Robin  
[6:05 PM] Tomorrow works for me, what time?

Chrom let out a sigh of relief when Robin agreed to hang out the next day. Lucina jumped onto his bed and he scratched her under the chin, realizing that he should probably take another shower. Driving all day made him feel gross for some reason.

Trying to think of his schedule for the next day, Chrom realized that he basically had nothing to do at all.

Chrom  
[6:06 PM] Any time tomorrow, do you want me to come over to yours or do you wanna come over here?

Robin  
[6:07 PM] I can come over tomorrow, I want to snuggle with Lucina  
[6:07 PM] I haven’t seen her in a while, plus you’re probably exhausted of driving and I don’t mind taking the bus  
[6:08 PM] I can be over by 6??? Maybe five

Chrom  
[6:09 PM] 5 sounds good if you’re able to come over

Robin  
[6:10 PM] Alright cool! I’ll be over around five then :)  
[6:10 PM] see you soon

Chrom  
[6:11 PM] See you soon

Chrom let out a wistful sigh, setting down his phone on the bed next to Lucina. The cat stretched out, blinking slowly before she fell back asleep. She was purring loud enough that Chrom could hear her. He kissed the top of her head, watching how her ears twitched. He grabbed some fresh clothing and headed to take another shower.

As soon as he was out of the shower he laid back down in his bed. Chrom wasn’t hungry and he kept wanting to text Robin, but he was going to see the him tomorrow. It didn’t really matter if they texted or not because of that. Chrom grabbed Lucina and shifted her so that she was in a better position on the bed.

Lucina let out a chirping noise when Chrom moved her, but she quickly fell back asleep anyway. Chrom was pleased to be laying there with his cat, in his own bed. He sent both of his sisters a text to let them know that he was home safe. For a moment he was wondering if he should sleep or not, in the end deciding to just spend time watching Netflix. It was so nice to be home, even though it was a very lazy thing to do.

Chrom was excited to see Robin tomorrow. Robin was one of his favorite people that he knew. Chrom wished that he could gush to someone, but his sisters weren’t around. Plus he was pretty sure that the two of them were tired of Chrom spilling his guts about Robin.

Instead of dealing with his emotions, he just decided to go to bed (despite the early time).

The next day he would be able to see Robin, which left a ball of excitement and anxiety in his stomach as he drifted off to sleep.


	18. Scales

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day late but here, also I ran out of mammal pet related things

Robin had made sure that his apartment was incredibly clean, even going as far as to bathe his dogs. Although he missed Lucina terribly, he was sure that Chrom probably had missed his cat even more. He and Chrom had decided to have their first date at Robin’s place. It might not be considered much of a date, but that didn’t matter to Robin, because he was going to be able to spend time with the guy that he had a crush on. That alone was enough to make Robin excited.

So he sat, waiting. Pulling at the strings of his joggers, Netflix on the screen. He kept moving the remote around so that the TV didn’t go dark.

Every now and then he would look at his phone, feeling nervous and excited at the same time. He knew that Chrom wouldn’t be able to text him. Chrom would be driving, and he barely used his phone at all when he drove.

Robin took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly. It calmed him down and he realized that maybe he shouldn't freak out before his first date with Chrom. He’ll be all jumpy and weird, and he didn’t want that.

Robin’s phone buzzed and he grabbed at it almost too enthusiastically. Turns out it was just a text from T-Mobile telling him about their “great” offers for his data plan.

Robin marked them as read and laid down on the couch. He played a game on his phone as he waited, jumping a little higher than he probably should have when there was a knock on his door. Robin got up, shooing the dogs away the best that he could in their excitement.

Morrigan sat near the door and he pushed her face away so she didn't stick her head out as he opened the door.

The door swung open to reveal Chrom, clad in a dark shirt with a vague dusting of cat fur. Robin found himself staring before he gathered his wits.

“Hey!” Robin greeted happily, opening the door wider to let Chrom inside. Chrom took off his shoes as he stood near the front door.

“Was the drive bad?” Robin asked, making some conversation instead of standing there and staring like a fool.

“No. It's never really bad where you live,” Chrom admitted. Robin nodded his head.

“That's good to hear. I didn't know what to put on, so you can choose,” Robin said as he stretched. “I think we have some snacks and lots of leftovers from my mom.” Robin laughed a little bit. She had basically shoved them into his hands before he had left.

“Cool.” Chrom grinned. “I haven't started that one show you told me about. I was thinking that we could watch it together?”

“Sure! Which show?”

“I think it was something called Get Down?” Chrom raised an eyebrow. “I know it takes place in the late 70s.”

“Oh! The Get Down. Go ahead and put it on. It’s in my watch list. Do you want snacks, or do you just want food?” Robin asked.

“Snacks sound good,” Chrom replied as he headed over to the couch and picked up the remote. He started up the first episode and Robin got them snacks from the kitchen. Once he had gathered the snacks, he went to the couch and settled down, putting the snacks between them. For a moment he sat with some space separating him and Chrom until Chrom scooted closer to him, bridging the gap.

Much to Robin’s surprise, Chrom did not do the classic yawn/arm stretch move like everyone did in the movies. He just placed an arm around Robin without hesitation and gently tugged him closer. Robin felt his cheeks heat up and he rested his head on Chrom, smiling like a dork.

Chrom had a small smile on his face too, and they just settled in to watch the show. Robin had only watched two episodes because he didn't really have time to sit down and binge.

“How was the visit with your sisters?” Robin asked, reaching over and grabbing a few pretzels so he could munch on them. Chrom was messing with the pretzel in his hand, playing with it the best that he could. He shrugged, which was an odd sensation considering their position. Robin leaned over and just ate it, not bothering to grab it with his hand. Chrom stared at him and frowned, but he didn't seem upset.

“It was good. Plus, that was rude of you.” Chrom ruffled Robin’s hair and he laughed.

“You were just playing with it,” Robin retorted. “Next time, eat your pretzel.” He hummed and Chrom rolled his eyes. “So the visit was good?”

“Yeah, it was good. We mainly just hung out and watched TV since we’re pretty lazy,” Chrom said.

“At least you guys got to relax together.” Robin thought that was nice.

“Yeah.” Chrom nodded his head. “It was nice.” The two of them shifted a little. They were slowly beginning to lay down. Not that Robin minded. It was nice to just be there with Chrom. “They kept teasing me, though.”

“Oh?” Robin’s interest piqued. “About what?”

“You.”

Robin had expected a straightforward answer, but it didn't make the blush on Chrom's face any less cute. Robin grinned at him.

“Also about me just being me. They kept bringing up embarrassing things that I did, but they were just being sisters. Siblings are weird, y’know?”

“What about me?” Robin pressured him, a teasing tone coming into his voice. He didn't comment on the siblings thing. He hadn't seen his own brother in years. Mainly because his brother was a douchebag and Robin didn't really want to see him, even though the douche constantly tried to get into contact with Robin to set up a visit. Robin refused to allow this.

“About the fact that I like you,” Chrom admitted. “Which you obviously know about, but they found it hilarious for some odd reason. Also, maybe you will hear these stories. I'm going to try and prevent that though. They're so bad.”

“Is it because you turn pink when you talk about me?” Robin was definitely teasing him now. “You're turning pink. But it could be because you're thinking about your pre-college years.”

“I don't turn pink!” Chrom was defensive and his voice was shaky.

“You're pink right now.”

Robin touched his hand against Chrom’s face. Chrom was incredibly warm and Robin touching his face made him warmer. Neither of them said anything, but Chrom was still blushing a little bit. He grabbed Robin's hand and pressed a kiss against his palm. Robin turned a little bit pink this time, and he nuzzled Chrom in return.

They fell into a comfortable silence. The show was introducing the main characters to everyone, and Robin watched the chase scene between the main character Zeke and Shaolin. Chrom didn't let any of his opinions be known yet, but Robin was cool with that. If Chrom decided that he didn't like the show after this episode, then he was completely okay with changing it to something that leaned towards Chrom’s tastes.

At some point, Robin had stopped paying attention. He was laying on Chrom’s chest and the other man’s fingers were threading through his hair. Robin had closed his eyes and relaxed against him, feeling himself become sleepier as the seconds went on. The silence stretching between them helped lull him into a daze.

“What are they doing?” Chrom asked, squinting his eyes as if that would help him realize what was going on in the plot.

“Um,” Robin began, slowly sitting up to pay attention. “I don't know,” he confessed. “I stopped paying attention a while ago.” That was probably bad, him falling asleep on their first date.

Chrom laughed, much to his relief. “I thought your breathing had gone oddly quiet.” Chrom played with the back of Robin’s hair. Robin leaned into the touch, humming quietly. “Do you want to change it?”

“Sure. Are you hungry?” Robin asked, looking over at him. He was still feeling a little bit sleepy. Chrom considered it for a moment before nodding his head.

“Yeah, I can eat. I really want to try your mom's cooking too. Or the leftovers of your mom's cooking, at least.” Chrom grinned at him. Robin nodded his head, leaning up and pressing a kiss against Chrom’s cheek without thinking about it. He got up and left the other man on the couch, going to the kitchen to warm up the food.

“Do you want something to drink too?” Robin asked, projecting his voice so he would be heard. There was a pause in his work, then he truly realized that he had kissed Chrom on the cheek. There were worse things to do, he reasoned. He just felt his cheeks heat up again.

“Just water would be fine, thank you,” Chrom called back.

Robin took a moment, calmed down, and got the water as the food warmed up. He went back to the couch and placed Chrom’s cup down in front of him and his own cup next to that one, making sure that they were both on coasters.

“Thanks,” Chrom murmured, leaning in and kissing Robin on the cheek this time. Robin smiled and nodded his head before wandering back over to the kitchen.

The food finished warming up and Robin was careful when he took it out. He didn't want to burn his hands, so he did it slowly. Robin made sure that the food was properly rationed and carried the plates back over to where he and Chrom were. Years of working as a waiter in restaurants made him especially good at carrying them.

Robin placed them on the little coffee table and stretched. “What did you put on?” He asked, looking at the TV screen.

“The Walking Dead, because you're weird and you've never seen it.”

Robin furrowed his brows at what he said, looking at Chrom for a moment.

“Isn't that a zombie show?”

“Uh, it's probably the most popular zombie show there is,” Chrom answered quickly, as if he was scandalized by Robin’s question.

“Right, but why are we watching a zombie show as we eat?” Robin thought that would be gross. Chrom tilted his head a little bit.

“Yeah, that's true. I guess I'll keep trying to find something that you haven't watched. Which won't be hard, because your Netflix seems to be only documentaries.”

Chrom scanned the options. Robin only watched things that were educational or weird. He also watched cult classics because he was a normal person who liked to enjoy normal people shows.

Robin snorted, beginning to eat his food as Chrom finally settled on something to watch. It was an entertaining show, Robin would give Chrom that much, and the food still tasted pretty good despite it being leftovers. It didn’t take either of them very long to finish eating and Robin curled back up against Chrom. They were laying down now with Robin resting his head on Chrom’s chest, his body in between Chrom’s legs.

Chrom was playing with his hair again. He was pretty sure that the other man was beginning to have a small thing for his hair (not that Robin minded much). He liked the feeling of Chrom running his fingers through his hair.

Chrom’s hand had moved to his spine now, moving gently up and down. Robin let out a soft sigh, shifting his eyes up at Chrom. Robin wanted to kiss him more but he didn’t, just happily letting Chrom continue with the weird pets. He wondered if Chrom was always this affectionate with people, or maybe it was just because of the two of them had been avoiding dating until now.

There wasn’t anything new about it. It was almost identical to just them hanging out as friends, but Robin enjoyed it.

“We should go on a more elaborate date next time,” Chrom suggested, still playing with Robin’s hair.

“Mm, yeah, that sounds good. I just don’t have good date ideas. I haven’t dated in a while,” Robin mumbled. “Are we going to just bounce ideas back and forth now? Even though I’m bad at coming up with date ideas, I can still try.”

“Maybe? Just so that we can have some sort of plan before we go on our next date.”

“We could go and see a movie? Or maybe go out to eat?” Robin was trying to think of dates that his friends used to do when they were in high school. Chrom paused for a moment, quietly thinking as Robin just suggested things. “I know it’s kind of cold, but there’s always frozen yogurt dates. Or maybe --”

“We could go ice skating,” Chrom suggested. “Oh, we can also work out together.”

“I don’t like working out,” Robin whined softly. “I’m down for going ice skating. I don’t know how to skate though; I’ve never been.”

Chrom smiled a little bit. “I can teach you how to ice skate. It can be cute and romantic. You fall on your ass, and then I fall on my ass as a result, and we both laugh like dorks.”

Robin laughed a little bit. “That doesn’t really sound romantic or cute, but I’ll indulge you. Plus, I don’t think I can drag you down that easily.”

“You’ll be surprised when you’re wearing two knife shoes. Not exactly stable.” Chrom rested his hands on Robin’s waist. Robin figured he was right and decided not to argue with him. Instead, he just leaned up and pressed a kiss against Chrom’s lips. It was a little less than a peck, and Chrom’s cheeks were pink. Robin noticed that he blushed a lot.

Or he just blushed really easily.

Robin didn’t mind either of those options. He thought that they were both great and cute. He was in a good mood, and Chrom was making him incredibly happy and needy and Robin just wanted affection. Chrom stared at him after the kiss, and Robin stared right back at him.

After a moment, Chrom blinked and pulled Robin up more. Chrom leaned in first and kissed him. Robin kissed him back, making sure that the angle wasn’t too awkward for him since he was lying down on top of Chrom. They kissed slowly. There was no real heat behind the kiss, but it still sent shivers down his spine.

Neither of them pulled away until they needed to breathe, and Morgan decided to jump on the couch. He tried to curl up on Robin’s back, but found that he couldn’t fit and just settled for dealing with the little bit of space that he had available. Robin looked over at the dog and Chrom kissed the top of his head.

“Handsy,” Robin quipped. It was dry but had no malice, and his eyebrows were quirked. His mouth had the smallest of smirks. Chrom leaned in and kissed him again. It still wasn’t heated, which Robin was incredibly okay with.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a lot longer than I thought,” Chrom sighed. Robin grinned.

“Me too.”

The two of them went back to cuddling, and Robin could hear Chrom’s heartbeat in his ear. Usually it would be kind of weird for Robin to hear someone else’s heartbeat, but he didn’t mind when it was with Chrom. Chrom was incredibly warm and comfortable. Robin was hopelessly head over heels for Chrom.

It wasn’t love.

Definitely not love.

But Robin was willing to be shaky on ice for him. They kissed again, for the third time that night, and Robin enjoyed it just as much as he enjoyed the first two kisses. There was nothing changing in them except for the kisses becoming longer. Robin had never kissed anyone three times, this long, several times in a row. He had made out with people before, but he had never just innocently kissed this way.

It was really nice.

Again, when the two of them needed to breathe, Robin pulled away from him. He smiled at Chrom. “Thanks for coming over,” he told him. Chrom smiled back.

“It’s a nice date, even if it is simple.” Chrom glanced at the screen and reached for the remote. “Oh! We have to rewind the show because I really want you to watch this and you haven’t been paying attention at all.”

Robin laughed, feeling happiness swim through his chest. There were butterflies in his stomach and in this moment, everything was perfect. Robin didn’t want to change a single thing.


	19. Mud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im back, sorry for the hiatus i just was exhausted and had some writers block (im still exhausted but writers block is gone)  
> this is unbeta'd since my beta reader can't use their laptop atm, and my temporary one is unavailable to edit on such short notice (i literally finished this today (04/04/2017 at 10:05 mst)

The date had left Chrom feeling fuzzy on the inside. He ended up leaving Robin’s house late, but not so late that it warranted him staying over. When he got back to his house, he showered and talked to Frederick, basically gushing, about Robin. Frederick had dealt with him, and Lucina had craved Chrom’s attention to the point of trying to follow him into the bathroom and burrowing herself under the covers so it was harder to get her out. Chrom let her be attached, spooning her the best that he could.

Chrom sighed, smiling a little.

He realized after a moment that he had forgotten to ask Robin out for a second date. It wasn’t a big deal since he could easily text him for a second date. Or call him. He was pretty sure Robin had classes the next day day. Maybe Chrom could bring him some coffee to keep him alive for the day and ask him that way too.

There was a chance that they could just have a sudden coffee date, although he wasn’t sure how Robin would feel about the sudden plans. That wouldn’t be bad at all, if the other didn’t mind. Chrom figured that he wouldn’t mind that much.

He ran his fingers through Lucina's fur, sighing softly. That sounded like a solid plan. He closed his eyes, letting his body relax. It didn’t take him long to fall asleep.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

The next day for Chrom was mainly a blur in the morning since he had slept until ten, and got ready for class. Technically he didn’t have class till 11:30, and he would usually stay inside. But he wanted to get Robin coffee and he knew that the other had decided to have an 11:00 o’clock class. Chrom didn’t get a chance to text Robin until he was at the campus.

He arrived at campus pretty early, there were a few places to get coffee and other food. Everyone knew that college kids needed coffee to basically survive. Chrom entered one of the cafes, and looked around the. It wasn’t super sparse, there was still no long line either which was pretty relieving for him. Chrom looked down at his phone, sending a quick message to Robin.

Chrom  
[10:40 AM]  
What type of coffee do you want?

Robin  
[10:40 AM]  
Doesn’t it ruin the surprise of getting me coffee if you ask?

Robin  
[10:41 PM]  
Anything that doesn’t taste like coffee sounds good to me, surprise me

Chrom pocketed his phone, looking at the menu and finding something that should suit his needs and something was too Robin’s taste. It wasn't very hard considering a lot of people liked coffee that didn't taste like actual coffee. Once Chrom was in the front he ordered.

Chrom  
[10:50 AM]  
I now realize I should have gotten coffee sooner, where are you?

Robin   
[10:51 AM]   
I'm in the turtle building, on the second floor in room 201

Chrom resisted the urge to curse. The turtle building was the most confusing of that side of campus. It was shaped like a turtle with its interior, and the way it looped around left you unsuspecting. There were random stairwells to sides of floors that left you wondering how you even got there.

Instead of just standing there and thinking about how much he hated the interior designer of that building, Chrom grabbed the coffee and left. It wouldn't take him long to find Robin. At least he was hoping that he knew the building well enough by now to not struggle all that much with it.

Miraculously, Chrom managed to get there before it was eleven. He would text Robin to see if he was in class since he didn't see him in the hallway. Chrom just decided to go for it and entered the classroom. The professor wasn't there, which wasn't a surprise. Most people were too busy caught up in their own conversations to really care about anyone else entering the room, others were busy doing other things. Chrom stood by the door for a moment, spotting Robin easily since his hair was noticeable.

He jogged up to him, “Hey. I find it rude you weren't waiting outside.” Chrom’s tone was teasing and Robin stood up, taking the drink from his hands.

“I'm sorry,” Robin looked sheepish, “I had a lot of books in my hands.” The other leaned up and pressed a kiss to Chrom’s cheek. “Thank you for the coffee.”

“It's not problem,” Chrom smiled at him. “We should do lunch if you're able,” he rested his now free hand on Robin’s hip.

“What time do you get out of class?” The other man did not move away from the touch, he didn’t flinch or shy from it either. Although, there was a light tint of pink.

“A little after twelve,” Chrom replied.

“I’ll text you,” Robin moved away from him then. “Go away and to your own class,” his tone was still light but he made a shooing motion with his hands. Chrom smiled at him, nodding his head and leaving the class as he was told to.

The walk to his class was a little long. But that was okay considering the fact that he had time to spare. Chrom got there early, sitting in a comfortable looking seat and relaxed. There wasn’t a whole lot he could do until then so he waited. It would be a much more interesting wait if he was able to text Robin, but the other was in class and he did get annoyed with Chrom texting him during class. Frederick was the same way. And Lissa didn’t really text back often enough for him to be entertained.

Chrom sighed, sipping on his coffee and deciding to play a game as he waited for the class to started.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Class passed by quickly, and Robin had sent him a quick text telling him where to meet him. Chrom was eager to do so, so he rushed towards where the other was. Maybe it was because of how fast he had been walking all day, since again it didn’t take him very long to get to where Robin was.

He wondered if this was how puppies felt. Excited, fast, and eager to just see that one person that they liked the most. When he spotted Robin, Chrom jogged up to him with a wide grin on his face. Robin was smiling up at him, and Chrom wondered how it was possible that someone looked so cute whenever they did anything. “Hey, had a good class?” Robin greeted him, Chrom leaned down and pressed a kiss to Robin’s cheek.

“I did. What about you?” Chrom asked, following Robin as he began to walk to the closest places to eat on campus. Robin’s hand found his, and Chrom entwined their fingers as they walked. He smiled, feeling happy overall with the fact that they were open about liking each other at the moment.

“It was honestly a little bit boring. But classes can’t always be good,” Robin shrugged his shoulders. There was a smile on his face too. Chrom nodded his head in understanding.

“Yeah. Isn’t that the one class that you usually find boring too?” Chrom glanced over at him.

Robin nodded his head. “It is, unfortunately,” he looked over at Chrom. Chrom stared at him for a moment before looking away. “I feel like all classes should be at least a little interesting, and I’m not saying that it isn’t. It it is, since it’s about a topic that I really like. But it’s just the teacher. Once you have a boring teacher, then the rest of the class tends to feel like a drag,” Robin had stopped looking at him so that he could make sure that he was walking safely. Chrom would pull him away from any dangers though, the best that he could.

“Where are we going?” Chrom asked finally.

“I was just sort of walking until we reached a spot that we both liked,” Robin admitted, almost sheepishly.

Chrom laughed a little bit, since he always thought of Robin as someone who had a plan. “Let’s just go here then,” he pulled him into a local restaurant. It was only found in the town they were in, and maybe there were some small ones in local, nearby towns. But it wasn’t a very popular franchise despite the food being enjoyable. Maybe it would grow more. Chrom didn’t really care to know, as long as it didn’t fall out of business.

They were still holding hands when they walked in. “Let me cover you,” Robin nudged him gently with his shoulder. “You got me coffee this morning.”

“If you’re sure,” Chrom wasn’t one to dispute with people about paying for him. If they wanted to then that was their choice, as long as they were comfortable in that decision.

Robin nodded his head at him, his eyes were scanning the menu. Chrom looked it over too, easily spotting something that he liked. It apparently didn’t take Robin very long either, since he was pulling the other by the hand up to the register. The two of them ordered, Robin only letting go of Chrom’s hand so that he could pay for their food.

After getting their food, they found a place to sit. Chrom felt like he was some sort of lovesick high schooler again. This time around he was more smooth about it, and he noticed it when the person liked him. So many people that he had a crush on, and who liked him, and it never happened because Chrom was admittedly oblivious to these sort of things (poor Sumia, she had had the largest crush on him forever).

It was still awkward, but it felt nicer this time since Chrom actually had some idea as to how to woo someone. And Robin didn’t seem to mind his attempts at wooing him (he seemed to encourage them in fact).

“You should get me coffee more often. Not that you need to buy me stuff,” Robin put his hands up. “Just that I think it’s nice, I’ll bring you coffee too. Of course,” Robin’s cheeks had a light tint of red in them and Chrom laughed softly at how he reacted.

“I’ll bring you coffee whenever you want,” he reached forward and grabbed Robin’s hand. Robin shifted his hand a little bit so it was easier for them to hold hands. His expression relaxed, and a small smile came on his lips that Chrom wanted to lean forward and kiss.

“I look forward to it,” and Chrom knew that he did. Chrom leaned forward and gave him the smallest kiss on the lips.

Robin’s cheeks turned slightly pink again. The whole affection was new between them, and Chrom was going to enjoy kissing Robin. He doubted that he would get tired of it, even if it was just small pecks. Especially if Robin kept blushing the way that he did.

“You have a class after this right?” Robin asked him.

“Three actually,” he sighed, “It’s my busier day. My next one is probably going to start in a little under twenty minutes.” Chrom admitted.

Robin stood, beginning to clean up any mess. “We should get going then, I’ll walk you. I don’t think my next class is that far away from yours,” Chrom nodded his head and began to clean up too. “Do you think we can have another date soon?” Robin asked after they finished cleaning up the trash. The two of them headed out, holding hands once again.

“Of course. When were you thinking?” Chrom asked, looking down at him for a moment. Honestly, there wasn’t much of a difference in height between the two of them. But there was enough where they had to lean down or up just a little bit. Chrom liked it, personally, since he felt like his boyfriend was made even more cute by that.

“Are you free Saturday afternoon? We can go and catch the matinee,” Robin suggested.

Chrom nodded his head. “I am. Do you have a movie in mind or…?”

“I do actually,” Robin grinned. They were making good time with their walking and talking. “I can text you the information? I’ll probably be home already by the time that you get out of class for the day,” he told Chrom. None of that sounded like a bad idea to him, except for the fact that Chrom was getting out later than Robin was. He wished that the two of them had better matching schedules.

“Sure,” he agreed.

“Sweet,” Robin still had a grin on his face. They had reached Chrom’s class. “I’ll text you later,” Robin leaned up and this time he kissed Chrom. It was a small kiss, it didn’t linger very long but Chrom felt himself leaning down, chasing after Robin for another.

Robin laughed a little bit at that. “Have a good class,” the white haired man said.

“You too,” Chrom replied, just wanting to kiss him again. Robin waved goodbye at him as he left off to his class. Chrom sighed before disappearing into his own class.


	20. Dandruff

Robin  
[10:00 AM] do you want to go ice skating instead of the movies?

He felt a little bit bad about switching the date all of a sudden. But he realized that the two of them had watched a movie for their first date. And for their second date ever, Robin wanted the two of them to switch it up a little bit and have some fun. They would still have fun if they went to the movies. But the winter months were meant for ice skating, and Robin really enjoyed it.

Chrom  
[10:02 AM] Actually yeah, that sounds fun  
[10:02 AM] Should we still meet at the same time or should we meet up at a later time?

Chrom agreeing with him made Robin happy. It was still early on in the day, Robin wanted to spend as much time as possible. But, Robin also wanted to make it so that the two of them could do all of the romantic things in movies. That felt like a silly thing to think about. He never had the chance to do that before, not really anyways without it being ruined somehow.

“Are you texting your man?” Gaius flopped down on the couch next to him, and Robin held his phone close to himself.

“Yes,” Robin noticed that he was blushing. Gaius grinned at him, looking at Robin with the goofiest expression. And then he began to wiggle his eyebrows. “Stop it, leave me alone to text my boyfriend,” saying that made him so happy.

Gaius called Morgan over to him, the dog climbed onto the couch and into his lap without much other invitation. As soon as she saw her brother getting attention, Morrigan went up to Gaius and started to whine for attention. She placed her head on the couch and wagged her tail, looking as cute as possible. “So things are going good?” Gaius asked, giving both of the dogs as much attention as he was possible.

“They’re going good,” Robin nodded his head.

“The Honeymoon Phase is so nice,” Gaius sighed wistfully. “Libra is really cute and has stayed cute the entire time.”

“You’re a loser. Did he get into that program?”

“He did,” Gaius sounded proud, there was a little smirk on his face now. “My boyfriend is going to some prestigious art school. On a scholarship. I’m so proud,” Gaius placed a hand over his heart.

“How far away is the school he’s going to go to?” Robin asked, resting his head on his shoulder. Morgan huffed quietly in his sleep. Morrigan climbed onto Robin’s side of the couch and he ran his fingers through her fur, her eyes closed and she got a very happy expression as he petted her. It was cute the way that she relaxed.

“Kinda far. I don’t really know exactly how far it is,” Gaius said with a small frown. “But it doesn’t matter how far away he is. We still have technology, and we’re both willing to commute to see each other,” the small frown disappeared away from his face, and was replaced with a small smile. “I love that man.”

Robin snorted a little bit. “I know you do, you big gay,” he gently pushed Gaius with his shoulder. After a moment he closed his eyes and leaned back. It felt really nice with a dog on his nap and another one nearby. Gaius was warm next to him too and that was nice. Robin wondered if he had enough time for him to nap.

He realized at the moment that he didn’t message Chrom back.

Robin  
[10:20 AM] Yes! Sorry  
[10:21 AM] What time do you think you’ll want to meet up?

Chrom  
[10:21 AM] it’s ok  
[10:22 AM] We can meet up more around the evening then? Would you prefer four or five?

Robin  
[10:23 AM] Four sounds good to me if that’s oaky with you?  
[10:24 AM] okay**

Chrom  
[10:24 AM] Four is perfectly okay with me, do you want me to pick you up?

Robin  
[10:25 AM] Sure! I’ll see you then ?

Chrom  
[10:26 AM] See you then <3

The little heart that Chrom sent made Robin smile. But anything that Chrom did tended to make Robin smile. “Who’s the big gay right now?” Gaius asked him, wiggling his eyebrows in an effort to tease Robin.

“Me,” Robin didn’t deny it. “We’re going ice skating later. And he’s going to pick me, so I’m going to go and take a nap,” he stated it with confidence. Slowly he stood up, gently he pushed Morrigan off of his lap. The dog let out a small whine, her eyes opening and looking at him. She looked annoyed. Robin leaned down and gave her a small kiss on the top of her head. “Who’s a good girl?” He whispered to her as he scratched her behind the ears. For a while he just stood there, scratching her and cooing at her.

“Aren’t you going to take a nap?” Gaius asked him, watching as Robin continued to pet Morrigan. Her tail was thumping against the couch.

“Yes,” Robin pulled away from the dog after a moment. “I’ll see you later,” he pointed two finger guns at him before leaving to his bedroom. Taking a nap before a date would be a great idea, and he just flopped down onto the bed. He curled up onto the sheets and waited for a few moments. When he felt one of the dogs climb on the bed, Robin closed his eyes and relaxed and quickly fell asleep.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
Surprisingly, Robin woke up early enough for him to go and shower. He stared at his phone, there wasn’t a whole lot of messages there. Chrom hadn’t texted him and Robin stared at the time. After a few moments he wiggled his way out from underneath Morrigan. She let out another whine and he kissed her nose. “Sorry baby,” he told her quietly, pressing another kiss to her nuzzle. “I gotta shower.”

Robin managed to get out of the bed. Morrigan stayed there, shifting around so that she was more comfortable. Every now and then he would glance at her before he began to scan his closet. It took him a while to find something to wear. It should be really cold outside, especially since they were going to be ice skating so he decided on something warm.

Robin was still a little bit tired, and he made a slow shuffle over to the bathroom. When he was in the shower, he just sort of stood there for a few moments. The water washed over him and Robin let out a yawn before beginning to actually shower. Before he had entered the shower it was about three, and Robin was a fast dresser so it didn’t really matter to him.

He finished up showering, checking the time again before began to dress. He could hear Gaius listening to music in his room. Robin yawned again as he finished tugging on his sweater. Robin left the bathroom, heading towards the kitchen.

It wasn’t that early, and it was nearing four so he imagined that Chrom was on his way. Robin was honestly excited to go on the date. They had been on two dates before, but there was nothing like going ice skating. Honestly, it had been a while since Robin had gone ice skating. ANd he wasn’t very good at it the last time that he went, but he wasn’t going to tell Chrom that. Robin imagined that it would be nice to go on a date with Chrom, and to ice skate with Chrom would be nice too.

Even if he did suck at it.

Robin scanned his cabinets until he found a few hidden treats that Gaius probably didn’t know of.

Chrom  
[3:50 PM] I’m here, do you want me to come upstairs?

Robin  
[3:51 PM] There’s no point  
[3:51 PM] I’ll be right down I just have to put on my shoes

Robin pulled on his shoes as fast as he could, pulling on a jacket too just in case it was colder than he thought. He wanted to go downstairs as fast as he could. Robin made sure that he had his wallet before his elft. “Gaius, I’ll be back later!” He made sure to announce that he was leaving. Morgan saw him leaving, and nudge his thigh with his head. Robin reached down and petted the dog. “I’ll see you later boy,” he knew that dogs didn’t like it when he left the house but it wasn’t like he could avoid leaving.

Robin made a quick jog down to where Chrom would be waiting for him.

When he saw his boyfriend's car, he rushed over to it and gently knocked on the window. Chrom’s face lit up and unlocked the car, letting Robin come inside of the car. Robin sat down, leaning across the dash. “Hey,” he leaned in and kissed Chrom. Chrom kissed him back, and they held it for a while before Robin pulled away. “Sorry about changing our date out of the blue,” he kissed Chrom’s cheek before settling into his seat.

Robin buckled his seatbelt. “It’s okay, I’m actually excited to go ice skating. I’m pretty good at it,” Chrom stated, giving Robin a grin.

“I haven’t been in a while,” it was technically true. Robin didn’t want to admit that he barely knew how to ice skate since he felt as if that would sort of ruin the atmosphere.

While Chrom drove, Robin put on some nice music. The sky was cloudy and grey, and the frost nipped at his nose even though the heat was beginning to warm him up. They didn’t talk much as they drove to the ice skating rink, but Robin enjoyed it all of the same.

Once they got there it didn’t take Chrom very long to find a parking spot. Robin and him got out of the car, Chrom catching his hand as they walked to grab their skates. It was a outdoor rink so the skate check out was rather small (it seemed like they had more in the back), but the front where people actually paid to get in was small).

“Have you been here before?” Robin asked Chrom as his boyfriend paid for their skates and skating time.

“Once, I don’t get the chance to go often anymore. WHen I was younger my family was always out skating,” Chrom told him as they walked towards the rink. There were little tables with heaters above them, as well as tents with several space heaters in them. Robin took off his shoes to pull on the skates. “I’m pretty good at it, if I do admit myself,” Chrom gave Robin a small smirk.

“I’m excited to see your skill then,” Robin smiled at him as he stood up. Even on solid ground he was a little shaky, and Chrom grabbed his hand as they walked over to one of the entrances. Chrom let go of him as he stepped out into the ice, easily skating backwards and watching Robin climbed onto the ice.

Robin gripped onto the wall, almost slipping as soon as he stepped onto the ice. Chrom’s brows furrow, “Can you not skate?” Chrom asked him as he skated up to him. Robin let go of the wall with one hand, allowing for Chrom to grab the free hand.

“No,” Robin gave him a sheepish smile. Chrom looked a little exasperated, but the expression on his face was fond overall.

“I’ll just teach you then, get off the wall,” Chrom grabbed his other hand. Robin let him drag him along, watching how effortless it was for Chrom to skate backwards. Chrom’s hands were warm in his too, which was nice. “You can’t skate like you’re walking,” CHrom switched so that he was next to Robin now. “Don’t lock your knees,” his voice was gentle as he coached Robin.

Robin listened to what he said, mimicking the way that Chrom’s feet moved. “Don’t let your blades lead you either, stay on the center and not on their side,” Chrom told him, gently kicking his feet to fix his position. Robin was still shaky, but he had more of a grounding than he did earlier.

At the moment he was latched onto his boyfriend’s arm. Chrom kept giving him advice, and they skated around in a circle for a while. The cold was beginning to nip at his cheeks, nose, and fingers again but RObin was focused on skating that he didn’t really notice. There were fairy lights strung up above them, along with larger lights so that they could all see. The houses nearby were quiet and dark for the most part.

They skated slowly, Robin glued to Chrom’s side. Which wasn’t a good idea. “Oh shit,” Robin cursed. Chrom didn’t have time to respond as Robin slipped. For a few seconds, Robin attempted to catch himself before he was falling. In an attempt to stay up he held even tighter onto Chrom. Unfortunately this just led to Robin bringing Chrom down with him.

He landed hard on the ice and so did Chrom, who looked shocked by falling down. “Sorry,” Robin apologized.

“Why didn’t you let go of me?” Chrom asked him after recovering from the shock of falling, he began to laugh as he stood back up easily. He helped Robin get back up on his feet too, even though he was shaky as he did. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Robin laughed a little too, but his cheeks felt hot now. “Are you?” He asked, brushing ice off of his body. He noticed that Chrom had some on his butt but the other was taking care of that.

“Yeah, I didn’t fall that hard. I was just surprised,” Chrom replied, grabbing Robin’s hands as he skated backwards. Robin let Chrom lead him. They were going slow, and a few teenagers whizzed past them. One grabbed onto another shirt with a loud whoop, and Robin stared at them for a moment before looking back at Chrom.

It got cold again, and a harsh breeze blew past them. At the same time it seemed to have started snowing. Chrom switched, skating back to Robin’s side. “At least it’s light right now,” he sighed as he watched some snowflakes fly past them. Robin watched as they collected in his hair.

“Yeah,” he agreed with a small nod. “You have snowflakes on your eyelashes,” Robin commented. He looped their arms together, Chrom blinked several times quickly.

“I can feel them,” Chrom mumbled. Robin could feel them on his eyelashes too. It was definitely less noticeable than they were on Chrom’s. His hair was wayyyy lighter than the others. Robin thought that he looked pretty with the snowflakes connecting on his eyelashes and in his hair. He wanted to nuzzle into him but they were ice skating and he needed to focus.

“Do you want to get hot chocolate?” Chrom asked him, as they neared the exit of the ice.

“Sure,” Robin figured that it would warm him up easily. Chrom led them over to there, and Robin got off of the ice easier than he had gotten on. “It’s nice to be on solid ground,” he sighed as he touched the floor. Robin gently stomped to get some of the ice and the snow collecting on the skates off.

“Find our shoes and a warm spot, I’ll be right back,” Chrom gave him a kiss on the nose before leaving. Robin didn’t get to say anything else before his boyfriend was off.

He found their shoes quickly and easily, grabbing them from where they were tucked underneath a bench. Glancing around, Robin spotted a spot that was right next to a little heater and a chair. He quickly waddled over it in his skates and sat down in the chair, he pulled up another chair that was close by.

Ice skating had caused some sweat to collect on his back, but not enough for him to feel gross. Just enough for him to realize that it was a lot harder than he had originally believed it to be. Robin leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, letting out a small sigh as he waited for Chrom to come back.

“There you are,” the familiar voice made him open his eyes, and he smiled when he saw Chrom. “Are you tired?”

“No,” Robin shook his head as he answered, accepting the hot chocolate. “Just enjoying sitting down,” he admitted.

Chrom sat down in the chair next to him. “Do your legs hurt?” He asked.

“Yes,” Robin sipped gingerly at the hot chocolate.

“You’re so weak,” Chrom let out a light laugh. “We should work out together sometime. Maybe we can build up more muscle for you, you are pretty skinny,” Chrom observed his body. “Not that it’s a bad thing of course. It’s only if you want to,” he looked away from Robin and sipped at his own hot chocolate.

Robin hummed as he considered it, “I wouldn’t mind building up some more upper body strength.” He was skinny, and his arms were little more than twigs when it came to strength.

“Next date?” Chrom asked him, and Robin shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe.”

“Wait, seriously?” Chrom actually looked surprised.

“A lot of couples work out together,” Robin replied. Chrom nodded his head after a moment of apparent consideration.

“That’s true. I guess we can organize that at some point,” Robin wished that they didn’t just have chairs since they could cuddle some more. “We’ve been here for two hours already,” Chrom said as he pulled up his phone. He showed Robin the time.

“Want to keep skatin around some more and head back? Maybe another two hours?” Robin wasn’t sure what time the skating rink closed.

“That should work, they’re zamobining right now. I think around nine they kick the public out anyways for an hour of open skate for hockey people,” Chrom told him. Robin nodded his head.

“Alright then, let’s finish these and then ehad off to skate some more.”

“Do you want to try racing me?” Chrom asked, wiggling his eyebrows a little bit.

“No,” Robin shook his head.

“It’ll be fun,” Chrom had a small whine in his voice.

“But I’ll probably fall,” Robin pointed out.

“You can’t learn unless you fall,” Chrom retorted, poking his nose. “Come on, come and race with me,” he gave Robin an equivlanet look to puppy eyes and he found it hard pressed to say no. Eventually, he sighed.

“Okay,” Robin gave in.

Chrom gave him a wide grin and the two of them finished up their hot chocolate before heading back onto the ice. Thankfully, Chrom took mercy upon Robin and gave them a warm up lap before they began that race that Chrom strangely wanted. The lap wasn’t fast and Chrom amde Robin skate on his on.

At first he was shaky, but he managed to skate just fine by himself after a few moments.

“Are you ready?” Chrom asked him once they met up again.

“Sure,” Robin reluctantly agreed. Chrom grinned at him, leaning in and giving him another small kiss. Robin frowned a little at him but he was still grinning. “I’m just saying that this is clearly an unfair race since you’re better than me at skating,” Robin stated as they got into a starting position. The thing he was most worried about was knocking into other people. He didn’t want ot trip some poor two year old.

“You still might win,” Chrom stated. “Ready?” Robin nodded his head, “Go.” Chrom wasnt’ very loud but Robin heard him. HIs boyfriend was better at skating, and he had more speed btu Robin tried not to focus on that as he chased after him. Chrom was way ahead but he sitll tried. His stops were still a little sloppy so by the time that he got back to their starting space, he was trying to slow down.

Robin’s solution to slow down was to crash straight into the wall. Chrom winced and Robin just coughed.

“Are you okay?” Chrom skated up to him, gently putting his hand on his back.

“I’m fine,” Robin waved off his concern. “Told you you would win,” he gave Chrom a small smile.

Chrom rolled his eyes, “Do you want me to take you home?” He asked, resting his hands on the others hips. Robin nodded his head.

“Sure, if you’re okay with leaving now?”

“I’m fine with leaving whenever you want, but we did agree around eight and it is about that time,” Chrom showed him his phone.

“Then we better get going,” Robin grabbed his hand. This time Robin led him towards the exit of the ice, Chrom followed him willingly along. They got off the ice and into normal shoes, and Robin followed his boyfriend back to the car on wobbly legs.

The car was freezing, and they sat there for a moment as it warmed up. “That was fun,” Chrom smiled at Robin.

“It was,” he nodded his head, relishing in the warm air that the car began to produce. Chrom began to drive him back home. “We should go back and ice skate again sometime,” it took Robin a moment to find music to put on. Chrom nodded his head in agreement.

“That sounds fun,” he was still smiling and so was Robin. He relaxed in his seat as Chrom drove.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
The ride back to Robin’s house didn’t take very long. “I’ll walk you to the door,” Chrom said, getting out of the car along with him. Robin didn’t argue, since it meant that they could kiss a little bit more before Chrom left. The two of them took their time getting up the stairs, even though the stairways themselves were pretty cold.

“I thought I was going to fall on every toddler in the place,” Robin told Chrom as they got up to his door.

“But you didn’t. You just need more practice,” Chrom stated, placing his hands on Robin’s hips.

“Practice makes perfect,” Robin commented, although his tone was a little bitter. Chrom just smiled, leaning down and kissing him. Robin kissed him back, wrapping his arms around him. They kissed like that for a while, before pulling apart.

Robin leaned up again, and gave Chrom another kiss. And then another. Until Chrom and him were just kissing. Robin’s back was against the door and Chrom’s lips moved against his. They kissed like that for a while. Chorm’s hands gripped even tighter onto his hips and Robin held on even tighter to him. He didn’t want to stop kissing.

Chrom bit down gently on his bottom lip, and Robin opened his mouth a little bit. Chrom’s tongue slipped into his mouth and Robin pulled him closer.

The doorknob began to turn and the door opened slightly, makign Robin stumble back. The kiss fell apart and there were three pairs of eyes looking at them. Robin was still holding onto Chrom enough for him to not actually fall. “The dogs were freaking out,” Gaius said, in place of any apology. “Hi, Blue,” he greeted Chrom.

“Hey,” Chrom greeted him back, and Robin noticed the light blush on his cheeks.

“I’ll text you,” Robin told Chrom, who finally let go of him. He gave him a small smile and pecked his lips.

“Goodnight then, I’ll text you too,” Chrom smiled at him. He waved at both of them before leaving to go to his own place.

“Yo two were getting heated out there,” Gaius wiggled his eyebrows as they stepped inside. Robin smacked his shoulder.

“Shut up,” his own cheeks felt hot.


	21. 5AM Rampage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Switched from every Tuesday to every other Tuesday -- it's tech week for my school's musical, also the school year is ending so I'm going to be busy with work from both school and actual work  
> Here's this gay shit (I'm also trying to figure out how to end the story even tho I don't think it'll end soon?)

All Chrom wanted to do was kiss Robin. He wanted to kiss him more and more until neither of them could breathe. It was sort of frustrating how much he wanted to kiss him. Chrom sat in his car for a few minutes, thinking about how they kissed when Chrom dropped him off. When he got home he was still thinking about the kiss, and he felt a little giddy when he had finally got into bed that night.

Kissing Robin wasn’t a new thing that night, they hadn’t kissed much but they kissed often enough that Chrom was no longer surprised by it (he still loved it, and he wanted to kiss him more each time the two of them kissed.

Even as he laid in bed, his thoughts were basically still focused on Robin.

Chrom  
[8:50 PM] I had fun tonight

Robin  
[8:51 PM] me too  
[8:51 PM] when do you want our next date to be?

Chrom  
[8:52 PM] I don't really know, maybe we can just hang out casually again?

Robin  
[8:53 PM] I'm down for just hanging out  
[8:53 PM] I can come over to your place this time? It has been a while since I've seen Lucina

Chrom  
[8:55 PM] You just like me for my cat

Robin  
[8:56 PM] you also have a cute butt and fancy hair but the cat is definitely a factor

Chrom  
[8:57 PM] You think my hair is fancy?

Robin  
[8:58 PM] Kinda, like Troy Bolton going to prom fancy

Chrom  
[8:58 PM] Thanks <3

Chrom smiled at the texts. He was happy to know that Robin thought his butt was cute (because he also thought that his butt was cute). For the most part, Chrom didn't care what people thought of him physically. But someone liking his butt when he likes them was always a plus.

Chrom  
[9:00 PM] When should we have our next date?

Robin  
[9:01 PM] I’m open saturday if you are

Chrom  
[9:02 PM] I am  
[9:03 PM] So, what do you want to do?

Robin  
[9:03 PM] I kind of chose this one, so maybe you can choose this time?

Chrom thought for a moment. Honestly there were a lot of things that the two of them could do together. Really he just wanted to spend time with Robin so he didn't know which activity to really chose. Robin had said that he missed Lucina too.

Chrom   
[9:06 PM] Do you want to come over? We can watch a movie or play video games, something lowkey and chill (+ you get to see Lucina again)

Robin  
[9:07 PM] that sounds great (I miss the brat)

Chrom  
[9:08 PM] Any idea as to what time you would want to come over? (I would say she isn't a brat but she is the biggest spoiled brat that I know)

Robin  
[9:09 PM] I'm pretty much open all day so it depends on how much you're willing to spend around me that day (I wonder why she's so spoiled)

Chrom  
[9:10 PM] I'm willing to spend a lot of time around you (it's because of Frederick)

Robin  
[9:10 PM] That’s gay (is it? Is it really?)

Chrom   
[9:11 PM] I am so gay for you (It was a combined effort)

Robin  
[9:12 PM] I'm gay for you too (that I believe)  
[9:12 PM] I'm an old man and I'm tired after one night of exercise   
[9:13 PM] goodnight <3 I'll text you tomorrow

Chrom  
[9:13 PM] Goodnight

Chrom smiled a little bit to himself. He felt claws digging gently into his stomach, Lucina was purring loudly. He reached down and scratched her behind the ear. It had been a nice night, and Chrom just wanted to go and see Robin again. They hadn't been dating for a long time but there was still enough bonding moments and experience of being around each other for Chrom to be pretty attached to him.

He sighed quietly, just trying to relax and trying to ignore the cat that was digging into his stomach. Sleep came to him easily.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Most of the week went by for him pretty quickly. His classes were usually interesting, yet Chrom was usually probed to dazing off during them. For some reason that happened less this week, and time seemed to pass by faster as a result. Chrom was excited to have another date with Robin soon. Although, they saw each other often enough that it didn't really matter.

Robin  
[12:30 PM] I think I'm lost ?

Chrom glanced away from the professor, and looked down at his phone.

Chrom  
[12:33 PM] What??? Where are you?

Robin  
[12:34 PM] Well, being lost means I don't know where I am

Chrom resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead focused on keeping his tone neutral over text.

Robin  
[12:35 PM] Oh waitnim not lost  
[12:36 PM] I'm not**

Chrom  
[12:37 PM] Where were/are you?

Robin  
[12:38 PM] The highest level of the turtle building  
[12:38 PM] I'm only in here for one class, and it's a miracle I don't get lost then tbh

Chrom  
[12:40 PM] You had me worried there

Robin  
[12:41 PM] shouldn't you be paying attention to your class?

Chrom did roll his eyes this time. He would have been paying attention to his class if Robin hadn't texted him in the first place. Not that he was upset about Robin texting him, since he always welcomed attention from the other. Chrom just found it amusing that the other told him to pay attention.

He focused back on his class, ignoring any other buzzing that came from his phone in favor of listening to the listen.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
The end of the week came faster than he thought that it would. When it arrived he felt incredibly relieved, and Saturday was going to be the highlight of his week, he was sure.

Chrom  
[9:20 AM] What time do you want to come over?

Robin  
[9:21 AM] Is around noon okay?

Chrom  
[9:22 AM] Of course! Frederick is probably going to be home all day  
[9:22 AM] But apparently he’s just going to stay inside of his room  
[9:23 AM] The nerd is going to be studying

Robin  
[9:23 AM] That’s cool  
[9:24 AM] I’ll see you later then?

Chrom  
[9:24 AM] See you later

Chrom smiled to himself, sitting on the floor with Lucina in his lap. Frederick was in the kitchen, and he wondered if the other was honestly going to just burrow in his room the entire day. It wouldn’t be the first time that it happened. Chrom was just a little bit worried about that, since he knew that Frederick still wasn’t 100% about Robin. But he supposed that it wasn’t Frederick just avoiding Robin, and just him attempting to give Chrom and Robin some space to be by themselves.

He wanted his boyfriend to be there already.

Chrom flopped back onto the floor, ignoring the way that his back thudded against the ground. His legs were still crossed, and Lucina picked her head up and looked at him. She laid her head back down, going back to sleeping and purring while Chrom tried to distract himself until his boyfriend actually arrived.   
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Finally, there was a knock on the door and he scuttled over to it. Chrom opened it, grinning at his boyfriend before he moved out of his way. “Come in,” he greeted him. Lucina was licking her paw on the couch, stopping to look at Robin. She looked very uninterested before going back to licking her paw. Robin slipped off his shoes and Chrom closed the door behind him.

“How was it on the way here?” Chrom asked, leaning down and pressing a kiss against Robin’s lips.

“It was okay. There wasn’t too much traffic. I’m just getting tired of taking the bus,” Robin admitted. He let Chrom led him over to the couch, flopping down next to him. Lucina let out a purring noise that sounded like surprise. She approached Robin cautiously, sniffing his pants. She rubbed against him but when Robin went to pet her, she ran away from his hand.

“Will she ever like me?” Robin sighed, slumping against Chrom’s side. Chrom pressed a kiss against the top of his head, enjoying the others warmth.

“She does like you. She just doesn’t like it when a hand goes reaching towards his quickly,” Chrom replied.

“I didn’t go that fast,” the other pouted a little bit, still slumped against Chrom.

Chrom laughed a little bit. “Sure,” he ran his hands through Robin’s hair. “Movie or video games?” Chrom asked him.

Robin let out a small hum as he considered the options. “What games do you have?” He was leaning into Chrom’s touch, his eyes closed a little bit as Chrom basically petted him.

“I have a lot of fighter games, shooters, things like that. Not a whole lot of story led games,” Chrom told him.

“What fighter games?” Robin’s eyes fluttered open, and Chrom stared at him for a moment. He had the prettiest eyes. They were a dark grey, and his eyelashes were white. Chrom just found Robin to be pretty overall. “Chrom,” Robin nudged him gently before repeating his previous question, “What fighter games do you have?”

“I have some Street Fighter games, this one Marvel game,” Chrom began to list a few of the games that he had. He didn’t have a whole lot, mainly because Chrom wasn’t much of a fighter gamer. He preferred RPGs and strategy games, especially things that leaned more towards the chess style games.

“Let’s play Street Fighter,” Robin suggested. “I haven’t played that in a while,” his boyfriend got off of his side. He sat up straight, and Robin reached his arms up and began to stretch. Chrom heard his back popped and Robin wiggled. “Um,” Robin looked around and then his eyes landed on Chrom. Chrom stared back at him for a moment before realizing what he was wondering.

“Hold on,” Chrom turned on two remotes, the TV and console were both already set up since if they were going to watch a movie or show they would have to have this on anyways. Chrom handed one remote to him and Robin thanked him with a small kiss on the cheek. He scanned the downloaded games before finding Street Fighter, pulling it up and starting the game.

It didn’t take long for the game to be pulled up and Robin shifted on the couch. He laid down, his legs in Chrom’s lap. Chrom relaxed a little bit more and started the game. “You can chose the location for this round,” he was tempted to rest his hand on the others ankles but he needed both hands to play the game. It took him and Robin both a while to figure out what characters they wanted to play, and their special moves (and their outfits, Chrom didn’t like the basic colors of Guy even though he knew that it was classic).

“Is there some sort of bet that we’re going to do? Or are we just going to try and defeat each other?” Robin asked him.

“Depends. What kind of bet are you thinking about?” Chrom considered the options that Robin could propose. His mind would only go towards things that would end up with them kissing. He just wanted to kiss Robin again and again, making out sounded really nice to Chrom. It sounded super nice.

Robin leaned back, scanning the options for the locations before deciding on one. The game began to start, but it was just the characters talking to each other. “Best two out of three. Whoever wins owes the other coffee for the next three days? And we can keep going from there,” Robin suggested.

“I feel like all of your motives lead to coffee,” Chrom teased him, snorting a little bit.

“Honestly they really do,” Robin grinned. “All of my goals just aim towards getting coffee somehow. Graduating college and getting a nice job? It just means that I’ll be able to buy myself a nice coffee maker,” his boyfriend shrugged casually. Neither of them had began to play.

“Alright. Well, the coffee thing sounds good to me,” Chrom was a little disappointed that it didn’t include them kissing. He wasn’t going to bring it up to Robin.

“Sweet. Let’s go then,” Robin started to play and Chrom was caught off guard by how easily Robin was controlling his character. His boyfriend was destroying him, Chrom was trying his best to deflect the attacks but Robin just kept charging towards him until his character K.O.’d. “I’m a little rusty, but it shouldn’t take me too long to warm back up,” he looked at Chrom before the second round started.

“That was you rusty?” Chrom asked him. Robin didn’t reply since he was focused on absolutely destroying Chrom. Chrom focused back on making sure that he didn’t lose this round. SOmehow, he managed to win and he felt his shoulders sag in relief. He had began to tense up as they were playing.

Robin let out a soft huff, “You got lucky this time.”

Apparently Robin was incredibly competitive about this. Chrom wondered how he would do in an actual fight (probably not well since Robin wasn’t much of a fighter, and he was also kind of soft, which Chrom adored). It was kind of adorable, but a little bit terrifying at the same time since Chrom had never faced any sort of wrath from Robin. “Third round,” Robin shifted the way he sat. He removed his legs from Chrom’s lap and sat up, although he was slouching over a little bit.

The third round started and Robin’s eyebrows were furrowed as he focused. He seemed determined on making sure that he won. Chrom wasn’t sure if it was because he really really wanted the coffee, or if he just wanted to beat Chrom in the game. Finally the third round was over, and Robin won. As soon as he won, Robin lifted his hands into the air. “Yes,” he cheered quietly, it was close to a whisper.

“Congrat, text me your requests each morning,” Chrom smiled at him. “Should we come up with a new bet? Or should we continue with the same one?”

Robin shifted the way he sat again, crossing his legs as he stared at the televison. “I guess we could come up with a new bet? It depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“Depends on what you’re thinking of, of course,” Robin gave him a small smirk and Chrom leaned in and kissed him. He kissed him to get the smirk off of his face, and because Gods did he want to kiss Robin.

He pulled away from the kiss first. “I don’t really know. I do know I just want to kiss you though,” Chrom admitted. Robin didn’t look super dazed by the kiss, but his eyes were staring straight at Chrom’s lips.

“I want to kiss you too,” Robin admitted but he pulled away from him. “But we should just play the game some more,” he seemed really excited to play the game. Chrom figured that he was really into the game, and that kissing would come later. The two of them began to play the game. They didn’t have any more bets, but Robin seemed just as motivated to defeat Chrom in the game.

Robin was leaning against his side. Neither of them said much, they just played the game and tried to beat each other the best that they could.

Eventually Robin and him stopped since they had been playing it for a while. It was beginning to get dull for the two of them. “Should we do something else?” Chrom asked, pressing a kiss against the other's cheek.

“Does something else include the two of us just kissing for a while? Because I’m down for that,” Robin admitted, leaning in and pressing a kiss against the others mouth. Chrom kissed him back, their remotes were placed down on the table and he placed his hands on the others waist. Chrom felt incredibly relieved by the fact that they were finally kissing.

In the back of his mind he knew that they shouldn’t just be kissing on the couch the way that they were. But it didn’t stop Chrom from pressing Robin down in the couch. Robin’s hands buried themselves in his hair, and gripped tightly on the strands there. Chrom bit down gently on Robin’s lips, and Robin opened his mouth a little bit. Chrom slipped his tongue in, shifting the way that the two of them were laying.

Chrom held tightly onto Robin’s hips, pressing them as close as they were able to move. They kissed for a while, until Chrom began to felt dizzy. His lips were tingling when they were pulling apart and Robin looked up at him. He leaned up, and pressed a kiss against Chrom’s cheek. After a moment, Robin pressed another kiss to the corner of Chrom’s mouth. “You kiss me like you’ve been thinking about it for days,” Robin said.

“I have.”

“That’s super gay,” Robin told him with a small laugh before leaning up and kissing him. He blocked Chrom between his knees. “You’re lucky that I’m also super gay,” he smiled at Chrom.

“Super gay for you,” Chrom gently massaged the other's hips before leaning down. He bypassed the others mouth, and kissed Robin’s neck. Robin tilted his head back, wrapping his arms around Chrom’s neck. He kept kissing his neck, not biting down on it since he didn’t want to leave any marks that Robin didn’t want.

Robin seemed to enjoy the kisses, since he was basically preening underneath the attention. Chrom looked up at him, leaning up and kissing him gently. Robin kissed him back, and he ran his hands down Chrom’s back. The other man just seemed to be feeling Chrom, and they kissed for a while.

Robin’s lips were soft, and they seemed to fit against Chrom’s perfectly. Chrom loved kissing him, he loved kissing him so much.

After a while Chrom pulled away again, and they just laid there for a while. Robin’s arms were wrapped tightly around him, and he buried his head into the crook of Chrom’s neck. Chrom let out a soft sigh and relaxed. “You make me so happy,” he admitted. Robin let out a soft laugh, and moved his face so that the two of them could properly talk. There was a small smile on his face, and Chrom noticed the light blush on his face.

“You make me happy too,” Robin replied to him. They were both happy with each other and the thought of that was enough to warm his chest. Experiencing it made his chest even warmer, and he leaned in and kissed Robin again. They kissed softer this time, it wasn’t as heated as the other kisses before. Robin’s arms were loosely around Chrom’s neck. This kiss wasn’t as long as the rest, and Robin pulled away first. He smiled at Chrom.

“What time is it?” Chrom asked, pulling away from Robin almost completely. Robin sat back up and glanced down at the phone.

“A quarter till four,” Robin glanced towards the window. He looked back at Chrom with a small smile. “Do you want to do something else? Or…” he left it blank and Chrom smiled at him before pulling Robin close to him again. Chrom kissed him, and Robin wiggled his way into his lap. Chrom wrapped his arms around his waist, kissing Robin throughout. They were chest to chest, Robin seemed to have a fascination with his hair. He played with it a little bit, tugging on a few strands.

Chrom sort of enjoyed it, not minding the small tugs. He let out a small sigh against Robin’s lips as they kissed. There was a buzzing noise from the TV that just became background noise, and Chrom tuned out anything that wasn’t the way that Robin was kissing him.

Chrom would be content to just kiss Robin forever. Robin pulled away first this time, and he was smiling again. Chrom and him both couldn’t help but smile. He felt like he was making out for the first time, minus his makeout partner having braces and the fact that the two of them actually knew what they were doing. It was much nicer than the first time that he had ever made out. But the feeling was still the same -- he felt incredibly giddy about making out, and he wanted to do more of it.

“How soon do you think I’ll be able to meet your mom? I mean,” Chrom felt his cheeks heat up a little bit. He wanted to spend as much time as he could around Robin. But maybe he was getting attached too fast, since they hadn’t been dating for that long. At least he wasn’t dependent on RObin and his interaction, he was just really enjoying seeing him and he felt like it was the first time he was dating someone again.

“Depends. I can’t see her often since we live far enough apart that it’s not easy,” Robin admitted. “What about your sisters?”

“It’ll probably be easier for you to meet them since they do live pretty close by, not close by but enough so that it’s not super hard to see them,” Chrom told him. “I know they really want to meet you,” he also knew that Lissa was the happiest to meet him. At least she expressed the eagerness the most. Robin nodded his head, the thought about meeting each other's family seemed to make Robin blush too.

“Should we switch to a movie?” Robin asked, changing the subject. Chrom nodded his head, since he didn’t feel like playing video games at the moment. He just wanted to cuddle and soak in the other’s presence.

Chrom let Robin choose the movie, and he chose a period movie that actually had an interesting plot. Again they shifted the way that they sat on the couch, and he kept his arms around Chrom. He played with Robin’s hair as they watched the movie, Lucina joined them and rested on Robin’s back.

He felt super comfortable, the smile remaining on his face just a little bit.


	22. Wet Dog Smell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to update the chapter last night, and also I passed out at like 7 something so sorry about the chapter being late  
> It's also unedited so please point any mistakes

Honestly, Robin found making out to be fun. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to do it before. And eh and Chrom hadn’t even made out in a way that was described in romance novels everywhere, it didn’t end up in them having sex (which, he was actually grateful for since Robin wasn’t sure if either of them were ready for that yet), just ending up in cuddles. With Lucina. Lucina was another highlight of that date.

Robin had been unsure about leaving the apartment after the date was supposed to end. Neither he or Chrom had set up a time for Robin to leave, but he had ended up leaving around eleven or something. Robin wasn’t really sure.

Now he was just face down on the couch, Gaius was on the floor below him. “Bubbles, you’re not watching me destroy this army,” Robin picked his head up at the others voice. He stared at the screen where Gaius was playing some video game that he didn’t know the name of.

“Look at you go,” Robin shifted, resting his head on his hand as he watched Gaius play. “You’re actually doing good. How many times have you’ve died?” He asked the other, he knew the basic rules of this game. Robin just didn’t know exactly what the game was.

“Not many. Like one,” Gaius answered. “And never my character. Just only one of my companions,” he was focused on his game. RObin rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling for a few moments before looking back at the screen. “Are you falling asleep up there?” Gaius’ asked, his words sounding odd since he held a lollipop in his mouth. Robin reached down and grabbed a few Sour Patch Kids before Gaius could stop him.

“A little. I'm really just thinking,” Robin answered before throwing a few of the gummy things into his mouth. “Why?”

“You're just quiet today.”

Robin hummed st that, looking at the ceiling again.

“What are you thinking about?” Gaius asked.

He hesitated for a moment, feeling his cheeks heat up as he decided to answer honestly. “Chrom,” Robin stated.

“So things are going good between you and Blue?” Gaius then laughed, “Wait of course they are. You two were making out on the front door not that long ago.”

Robin gently whacked Gaius with a pillow. “We were. And I'll have you know that he is a really good kisser.”

“Is he? I'll have to test that for myself,” Gaius stated. Robin snorted, knowing completely that it was just a joke and Gaius being Gaius. Which was weird, and sometimes crude.

“I'm amazed that Libra is able to put up with you.”

“‘My man knows I'm loyal, and he's dedicated to make sure that I don't do dumb stuff -- it's really just that and the fact that I'm great to sleep next to,” Gaius was grinning, Robin could hear it in his tone although he wasn't looking at the others expression.

Again, Robin skirted. He rested his arm on top of his eyes, closing them. He felt himself relax at the idea of falling asleep. His body seems exhausted, although his mind was racing and he was thinking about his boyfriend. Robin wondered if this was how the stereotypically written teenage girl in sitcoms felt, or in those rom coms that weren't really good but you watched them anyways.

His phone buzzed and Robin let out a soft groan at the thought of moving to grab it. After a moment he braced himself and grabbed it, squinting at the screen. To his disappointment, it was not his boyfriend. To his disappointment even more, it was his twin brother.

Grima   
[11:00 AM] I heard you got urself a boo

Robin  
[11:01 AM] I have a boyfriend, yes, I didn't try to hide it

Grima   
[11:01 AM] why didn't u tell me b4 changing ur status? :(   
[11:01 AM] I'm hurt bro :((

Robin  
[11:02 AM] Are you really texting me because I didn't tell you that I was dating someone?  
[11:02 AM] you don't even call me for holidays

Grima  
[11:03 AM] I'm wounded that u think s o lowly of me  
[11:04 AM] I was gearing up to visit u

Robin   
[11:04 AM] No thanks, stay where you are

Grima  
[11:05 AM] so rude ! Dad didn't raise you this way  
[11:05 AM] but I bet mom doesn't care much abt manners

Robin  
[11:06 AM] whoop there it is

He rolled his eyes, feeling frustration claw its way into his chest. He quickly exited out the conversation and ignored any incoming texts from his brother. If his brother wanted to have an actual conversation then he could call Robin. But considering the fat that his brother never wanted to talk to him (and vice versa), Robin doubted that. Grima just wanted he a nuisance, again. As if dealing with him for all of his life wasn't enough.

As if sharing a womb or having to look almost exactly the same wasn't enough.

Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Gaius didn't say anything to his (slightly) noticeable agitation. That was relieving since Robin was sure that he would just snap at him. He set his phone down and turned move onto his side where he was able to see the screen. Gaius was almost done getting through the level it seemed since his character was approaching the main objective point.

There was a list of characters on the screen showing who was part of Gaius’ party, one of them was grey. Gaius wasn't making an effort to revive this. Haragrer since it would happen automatically anyways. Robin watched and tried to remember the game and what it was about in an effort to distract himself. This was the type of things that he needed.

He didn't need a shitty brother or father. He just needed to be able to relax in a nice, warm apartment with his best friend, his dogs nearby, and food in the house. Of course having Chrom there would make this scene perfect for Robin. But Robin didn't feel like making Chrom drive in the snowy weather for the two of them to cuddle. Although he would love it, he knew that it wasn't fair for him to ask that of Chrom.

Robin turned back to looking up at the ceiling. He didn’t know why his brother was messaging him. The two of them weren’t on good terms, they hadn’t been since they were in their early teens anyways.

“I can feel you being angsty,” Gaius flopped his head back onto the couch. Robin wondered fi that was an uncomfortable position for him, since his neck was stretched out in an effort to look at Robin.

“I’m not being angsty. How would you even know that I’m feeling angsty if I didn’t give you any reason to think that?”

“I saw you let your phone drop, because you weren’t paying attention. And you had that expression on your face like you wanted to bite something,” Gaius answered him, there was a small hum in his voice that had Robin rolling his eyes.

“I’m not being angsty,” Robin pouted a little bit.

“Yes you are,” Gaius stated in a sing-song voice and Robin wanted to bite him. “What made you make that face?”

“Just my brother, honestly,” Robin admitted. He didn’t like talking about his brother, but he figured that Gaius wanted to be let in on the scoop. Gaius respected his boundaries to a certain extent, he was a little bit pushy when it came to Robin.

The ginger hummed again, “What did he say to you this time?”

“Just dumb stuff about visiting or whatever,” Robin sat up. His back popped when he did and he wiggled around for a few seconds to loosen up. “It wasn’t anything important. It’s just him being himself that frustrates me. Sometimes I want to punch him, but also that’s really bad of me. And I don’t want to see myself, basically, look beaten up,” he sighed. He wasn’t really willing to go and attack his sibling.

“Brother angst,” Gaius sighed dramatically, placing his hand on his forehead.

Robin gently smacked him in the back of the head gently with a pillow. “Shut up,” this was the usual routine between them. It felt comfortable and familiar, and it didn’t feel like an estranged brother texting you out of the blue.

Thinking about being comfortable made him want his boyfriend even more than he did earlier. It would be so nice to cuddle up with him, and watch stupid movies together and the dogs. And with Gaius. Maybe they should do a double date or something. Libra was nice to be around, and Robin wanted to hang out with him as much as he could. It was going to take a while for the program to start (they were still in the first semester of school). Yet Robin still wanted to spend as much time as he could with Libra.

Robin looked at his phone, scrolling through it before deciding to finally text Chrom.

Robin  
[12:00 PM] hey  
[12:00 PM] how are you?

Chrom  
[12:01 PM] Good! How are you? :)  
[12:02 PM] Are you having a good day?

Robin  
[12:03 PM] I guess so?  
[12:03 PM] better now that I’m texting you

Chrom  
[12:04 PM] Want me to call you?

Robin  
[12:04 PM] yes

He got up from the couch, it seemed like every bone of his body popped at that. Gaius glanced over at him but didn’t say anything. Robin left the room, going to his own bedroom and closing the door behind him. Chrom called him as he flopped onto the bed. He didn’t hesitate in picking up the call. “Hey,” Robin greeted him, closing his eyes as he listened to Chrom on the other line.

“Hey!” Chrom sounded pretty happy to hear from him and that made Robin happy. “You sound tired, did you just wake up or something?”

“No,” Robin answered. “I woke up around eight.”

“So you’re just tired because of it being the weekend?” Chrom asked him, his voice was crackled just a little bit over the phone.

Robin honestly enjoyed Chrom so much, just hearing his voice made him happy. They were beginning to get closer and closer as time went on, and their romance was still pretty new but they were not. Robin wondered if this was what falling in love was considered. But maybe it was him working himself up into nothing. “Yeah, basically,” he answered after a moment. “Hey, can you just talk? I don’t really know what to say and your voice makes me feel better.”

“Did you have a bad day?” Chrom asked.

“Just something to damper my mood,” Robin answered him honestly.

“Okay. Well, Lucina has been meowing at the window lately. I don’t know why she does this but she’s been doing it for a while now. And it’s always at the same time. She gets up at two a.m. every morning, and she meows at the window,” Chrom told him. “And she meows loud enough to wake me up and it’s terrible. But she stops meowing when I open up the window.”

“She’s possessed. Or there’s a ghost somewhere. It’s something having to do with the supernatural,” his voice was mumbled. Chrom laughed a little bit at that. Robin wasn’t sure if e found it actually funny, or if it was just him humoring Robin.

“You really think that my cat is possessed?”

“Well, not possessed exactly. Maybe she’s just trying to connect to the dead,” Robin replied.   
Chrom let out a hum on the other end of the phone, and god Robin was gay for his voice. “I miss you,” he said quietly.

“We haven’t seen each other in a few days, it hasn’t been long,” Chrom told him.

“It’s been a long time though,” Robin let out a soft whine.

His boyfriend laughed again on the other end, and Robin felt weirdly satisfied by the sound. “You're in a clingy mood today, aren't you?”

“Is that wrong?” Robin asked, wondering if it bother Chrom. The other didn't seem to be teasing him about it, but he did sound a little amused.

“No, it's fine,” Robin could hear Chrom shaking his head on the other line. Robin smiled a little bit. Usually he wasn't the type to constantly need attention but shit was weird man. Sometimes he did need constant attention and he wasn't afraid to ask for it. “Do you want me to come over?” Chrom asked him.

“I don't want you to travel just to see me.”

“It's not that far of a drive. Besides, I'm down to go over and cuddle whenever,” Chrom said. Robin heard more muffled noises on the other line, he could hear Frederick’s voice in the background and something falling as well (he assumed that Lucina was on some sort of rampage throughout the apartment).

The idea of Chrom coming over was something that Robin wanted to happen. He did want the other to come over and for him to cuddle. Robin hesitated for a moment, “Alright. Come over.” He agreed after some silence.

“I'll be on my way,” Robin could hear the smile in Chrom’s voice as he spoke and he hung up to wait for him. For a while he stretched in bed before rolling out and going to the living room. Gaius and Morrigan has taken over the couch. Morrigan was lying on top of Gaius as he played the same game.

“Chrom is coming over,” Robin informed him. Morrigan’s ears twitched at the sound of someone else's name and the word ‘over’.

“Cool,” Gaius glanced over at him. “Is he bringing food?”

“I don't know, but knowing him he probably is,” Chrom usually brought something for Robin to eat. He was under the belief that Robin was starving constantly. Or maybe he was just someone who was always eating himself. Robin didn't really know but he didn't mind the constant food, since he would forget to eat if not for other people.

Robin sat on the floor in front of Gaius, watching him play video games. He had left his phone in his room, so he fiddled around with a dog toy he found on the floor. Morrigan didn't even look up at him, and he wasn't sure where Morgan was. Most likely sleeping in the kitchen or Gaius’ room, since he was hard to miss.

It was only fifteen minutes until he heard a knock on the door. Robin stood up, stretching before he answered it. As expect, his handsome boyfriend was standing there. Robin leaned up and gave him a small kiss. “Hey,” he greeted him before letting him inside. Chrom hadn't changed before he left the house, since he was still dressed in sweatpants that Robin knew he wore for sleep and a hoodie that had his high school's name on it.

“Hi Blue,” Gaius greeted him from his spot on the couch. Morrigan got up and went up to Chrom, sniffing his pants and nudging his hand with her head. Chrom petted her.

“Hey Gaius,” Chrom grinned at him. Robin closed the door behind him and Chrom took off his shoes while still paying attention to the dog wiggling in front of him. He was cooing st Morrigan, which just encouraged her. She stood on her hind legs and rested her paws on him.

“Morrigan, down,” Robin reprimanded her lightly. Morrigan moved away from Chrom and went back to sleeping on Gaius. “Do you want anything to drink?” He asked.

“I'm okay,” Chrom shook his head. Robin didn't say anything, just nodded his head and grabbed the other's hand, leading him over to the bedroom. “Can I ask why your mood went down?”

“Just some family stuff, it's dumb,” he sat on his bed and Crom sat next to him.

“Well, I don't think it's dumb if it affects your mood,” Chrom flopped onto the bed. He rearranged himself until he was lying down properly. Robin flopped onto him (less of a flop and more of a gentle drop, but it was still enough to make Chrom grunt a little bit), his head on the others chest and his body essentially sprawled out on top of Chrom’s. “I sound like my sister,” Chrom mumbled.

“Is that something she would say?”

“That and more. Emma is the sage type. Always giving advice, and sometimes she sounds way older than she actually is,” Chrom wrapped his arms around Robin’s waist. “But you were saying about your own stuff?”

“It's really nothing. And it is kind of dumb since it isn't even anything major,” Robin closed his eyes and relaxed on top of his chest. He listened to Chrom’s heartbeat.

“If you're sure,” Chrom was playing with the ends of Robin’s hair. He always played with his hair, and Robin wondered if it was just because it was there, and his hair was something for Chrom to fiddle with or if because he liked Robin’s hair.

Neither of them spoke, and they just laid there together.

“Thank you for coming over,” Robin broke the silence.

“Of course,” Chrom kissed the top of his head. It must have been a really awkward position, but Robin smiled at the feeling. “I am kind of falling asleep though,” his voice was low and the vibrations were comforting.

“That's fine,” Robin replied, “I'm kind of dozing off too.” He shifted a little bit, grabbing the blankets that had been bunched together at the end of the bed and pulling them on top of him and Chrom.

The two of them lapsed into a silence again. Chrom’s breathing steady and Robin automatically matched his own breathing to his. His thumb was making a small circle on the sliver of skin that Robin’s shirt failed to cover, and the two of them fell asleep easily.

 


	23. Collars

Chrom woke up because of a paw coming into contact with his stomach, he felt claws digging into his skin before one of the dogs settled down on top of the bed sheets. Robin was still asleep next to him, having moved from his original position at some point. Chrom stared at him for a moment, watching how the white hair fell in front of his face. Robin’s lips were parted just a little as he slept. Slow and steady breaths left him, and his eyes twitched, along with his fingers, showing signs of dreaming.  
  
Chrom wondered what he was dreaming about. He leaned forward, gently pressing his lips against Robin’s forehead. His boyfriend gave no sign that he felt it, but he did shift in his sleep, mumbling quietly in it. Chrom thought he was adorable. He thought he was beautiful.   
  
The apartment was quiet, and Chrom wondered if Gaius had gone into his room. Both of the dogs were on the bed and Chrom moved himself closer to Robin. He wrapped his arms around the smaller man and held him closely, resting his chin on the top of his head. Robin shifted again in his sleep, and Chrom feared that he might have wakened him by pulling him close.  
  
Robin’s breathing didn’t change and he remained asleep, much to Chrom’s relief. He found his phone somewhere on the bed. He managed to get out his earbuds somehow, plugging them in without disturbing his boyfriend at all. Robin was still fast asleep and Chrom wondered if he had been sleeping well, or if he was just weirdly tired.  
  
Chrom supposed it wouldn’t be weird to be this tired. Robin mentioned staying up late for studying a lot of the time. And Chrom knew that he didn’t take that good of care. It was unfortunate. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. He smelled his shampoo, something fruity and really familiar. Chrom wondered if he could steal the bottle, or just find the same one. He wouldn’t mind smelling like his boyfriend for a while. It would actually comfort him a lot.  
  
His heart ached so much for this man. Chrom couldn’t help but feel like they weren’t going fast, yet at the same time everything seemed to be rushing towards him all at once. Maybe it was because all of the pent up romantic feelings he had for Robin were striking him.  
  
Chrom didn’t mind. He just enjoyed spending time with Robin, feeling happy and warm. And he also felt completely in love with the other. But he wouldn’t tell him. Not now anyways, feeling as if it would make Robin feel uncomfortable. Or that he wouldn’t want to hear it yet. Chrom wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but it just didn’t feel like it would be the right time to confess his love to the other. He would wait. When the time was right he would strike.  
  
Robin shifted again in his arms and he heard him mumble again. “Chrom…?” Robin’s voice was thick of sleep. He looked at his face, Robin’s expression was adorable. His eyelashes were so long and Chrom wanted to kiss him. So he did. He kissed Robin slowly before pulling away from him, just as slowly.  
  
“Hey,” he greeted him. “Did you have a good nap?”  
  
Robin let out a little noise, shuffling even closer, “... did, yeah,” his words were mumbled and some parts weren’t really audible. Chrom smiled a little bit at how cuddly Robin was in that moment.   
  
“Are you falling back to sleep?”  
  
“‘M not,” Robin mumbled. Chrom watched as he fought to keep his eyelids open. It seemed like he was losing the battle, which wasn’t a bad thing since he wanted to make sure that Robin was well rested. Also it was cute. Everything about him was cute.  
  
“You can go back to sleeping if you want to,” Chrom gently nuzzled Robin. Robin had his head buried his in his neck now. He felt Robin’s mouth moving, small little kisses were being pressed into his skin. Robin didn’t say anything, just letting out a soft noise that Chrom wasn’t sure was a mumble or just a noise in general. Robin moved his head away, rolling onto his back and laying there for a moment.  
  
His eyes were shut, and Chrom was convinced that he had fallen asleep again. Then he shook his head and opened his eyes, looking at Chrom.  
  
“I don’t want to go back asleep,” Robin yawned. “Did you nap?” Robin rubbed at his eyes, and Chrom leaned down and pressed a kiss against his nose.   
  
“Yeah,” Chrom nodded his head. “I haven’t been up that much longer than you,” he confessed. Robin let out a small hum before rolling back towards Chrom. He took Chrom's face in between his hands and pressed their lips together, kissing him gently. Chrom kissed him back, resting his hand on Robin’s hip. He rubbed the sliver of skin that he could find there, toying with the hem of Robin’s shirt. They kept kissing, it was pretty slow and gentle. Chrom let Robin lead the kiss to his heart's content.  
  
Robin’s lips were soft against his and the kissing was beginning to make him dizzy. Chrom pulled away first, and Robin gave him a small smile that he shared. It took him a moment but then he was leaning in again and Robin kissed him. They just kissed for a while, still slow. Almost lazy with it.  
  
Robin’s hands were on his back, or in his hair. They were pulling at his clothes, just touching him and playing with random strands of hair that his fingers happened to find. Chrom lost track of how long they were kissing. Robin nipped his lower lip gently, and Chrom just kissed him a little harder. Not incredibly hard, and he still made sure that Robin was leading the kiss.  
  
It was incredibly nice, but ruined when Chrom’s phone began to ring. Robin pulled away with a small groan, he grabbed Chrom’s phone. “Lissa is trying to FaceTime you. You should answer,” Robin began to hand the phone towards Chrom. Chrom frowned a little, wrinkling his nose before answering the call.   
  
  
It was his sister, and he knew that ti would be rude to ignore her. Not that he wanted to really answer her. He did, yet at the same time he didn’t want to. Chrom just wanted to enjoy Robin in privacy.   
  
Any feelings about not wanting to answer the call disappeared as soon as Chrom saw Lissa.  
  
Lissa’s face took up his screen, except for a small corner where Chrom and Robin could see themselves. “Hi Chrom!” Lissa’s voice sounded higher through the phone, “Oh! And hi Robin!” She grinned at the two of them. “Am I interrupting something?”  
  
“No, you’re not. Hi Lissa,” Robin greeted her. It was only the second time that Lissa and Robin were talking to each other. Chrom noticed that Robin scooted away from him a little bit more, but not far enough away that it looked weird. Was he shy due to Lissa being there?   
  
“Hi! Okay! Okay, so I just missed my older brother,” Lissa sounded excited. “And decided to call you. Oh and I might have adopted a kitten,” Lissa lifted up a small cat the best she could with one hand. The kitten was small, “He was the runt and supposedly abandoned. I don't know what to call him yet. I'm thinking Nemo because of he has the chipped ear.” The cat began to climb on her shoulder, nestling there while chewing on her curls.   
  
“I think Nemo is a cute name,” Chrom told her. Lissa nodded less enthusiastically than she usually would have, considering the small kitten that rested on her shoulder.   
  
“Look at those small paws,” Robin cooed. “He really is just a baby, huh? What happened to his family?” Chrom shifted a little bit and Robin followed so that they were both still in view and so they were both more comfortable.   
  
“They think that his mom got too stressed and abandoned the litter. His siblings are doing fine, they were trying to find a home for him and I took him. The rest of them all had homes already, the shelter is trying to find the momma,” Lissa scratched the kitten in between the ears. Chrom could hear his purr.  
  
“I just felt like I should tell you because you're a cat dad, now I'm a cat mom. And now you have a cat nephew. I already told Emm and I've just been sending her pictures because he is just the cutest little thing,” Lissa’s eyes were gleaming.  
  
“I think you should definitely name him Nemo,” Chrom piped up.  
  
“Little Nemo,” Lissa grinned. “Do you think it'll be possible for him to meet Lucina?”   
  
“Maybe,” Chrom mumbled, he nuzzled Robin without thinking. “Lucina can be possessive though. She might try and fight Nemo,” Chrom had the urge to nip at Robin’s neck.   
  
Robin hummed, moving his face away from Chrom’s attempts to kiss at it. “I don't think she will. Give her more credit, she'll understand that he's just a baby,” Robin stated.  
  
“I agree with Robin,” Lissa didn't comment on her older brother trying to grab his boyfriend's attention, being silent for a little while. “Anyways, I should probably go. We have an appointment with the vet,” the kitten on her shoulder squeaked at the mention of vet. Lissa gasped, “He understands me! Bye Chrom, bye Robin!”   
  
Before they could respond Lissa had hung up on them. Robin let out a soft laugh after he was silent for a moment. “She reminds me of a puppy,” he stated. Chrom hummed in response, leaning in and pressing kisses against Robin’s skin.   
  
“She’s excitable as one, I can’t wait for her to meet you,” Chrom placed a kiss under Robin’s jaw. Robin laughed at the kisses, Chrom’s eyelashes were tickling his cheeks.  
  
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Robin replied. Chrom kissed him gently, pressing their lips together in a way that had Robin releasing the smallest of noises. It was a cute noise, but Robin himself was just very cute. Robin wrapped his arms around him, pulling him closer. Chrom shifted them a little bit, leaning with his body weight so that Robin ended up on his back.   
  
His boyfriend's fingers found his hair, and Chrom just kept kissing him. A quick swipe of his tongue at Robin’s lower lip had him parting them easily, he pressed Robin down into the bed as they kissed. His hand was gentle on the others face, and Robin seemed to be melting into his touch. He felt his boyfriend shiver underneath him, Chrom pulling away from the kiss to lean down towards his neck, where he began to nip very lightly at the skin there.  
  
Robin continued to play with his hair, and Chrom leaned up and pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. He pulled away after a moment.”I kind of want to mark you,” Chrom told him, kissing Robin’s cheek. Not kind of, Chrom did want to mark him. He thought that he would look pretty with the hickies on his neck.  
  
“What is this? High school?” Robin asked him jokingly, leaning up and kissing Chrom again. Chrom hummed in the kiss, and they stayed kissing for a while once again. They were just happy to stay kissing. “You can leave some if you really want to,” his brows furrowed and Chrom couldn’t help but grin at him. He leaned down and pressed a kiss in between the two brows there. Robin’s face relaxed.  
  
Chrom kissed the other's neck again, trying to find a spot on his neck that seemed good enough. Eventually he found that spot, finding one near the collar of Robin’s shirt. He couldn't go down lower than where the collar was, unfortunately for Chrom, so he made due with that. He pressed a kiss there before biting down. Robin let out a little gasp underneath him. Chrom tried not to bite him too hard, just hard enough to leave a mark on his neck. He soothed over the bite with a little lick.  
  
When he pulled away from Robin’s neck, he felt a little bit proud about the red mark that would no doubt develop into a bruise. Chrom gave Robin a small smile. Robin huffed a little, a smile playing at his lips too before he pushed Chrom away gently. Chrom got off, rolling onto his back.  
  
“Do you just want to laze around for the whole entire day?” Robin asked, sitting up. He stretched and Chrom watched him, also watching how his shirt lifted up just a little. It was late in the afternoon, Robin checked his phone for time. Chrom glanced at it and saw that it was almost four. How long had they been asleep?  
  
“Isn’t that what we’re already doing?” Chrom asked, wrapping his arms around Robin. He felt incredibly affection that day. Maybe it was the domestic idea of waking up to Robin often that made him feel this way. Or the fact that they were incredibly close at the moment, not exactly alone but almost alone enough for them to just do whatever they wanted. Chrom wasn't really expecting sex, but he was down for making out.  
  
A lot of making out.  
  
“I guess it is,” Robin shrugged his shoulders. He leaned down from where he sat and kissed Chrom. Chrom let out a little pleased noise when he was kissed. “You’re needy today, aren’t you?” Robin didn’t seem mean about that, he cupped Chrom’s face in his hands and Chrom leaned up a little bit more for them to kiss. Sun was filtering into the room from the window, the sun was beginning to set. It casted a dark yellow glow, not quite orange yet.   
  
“Just a little bit needy,” Chrom mumbled, “I like touching you.” Robin’s face flushed at that statement. “Well, I mean. I just like kissing you a lot. You’re nice to kiss,” he felt his own face flushing. “Not that I wouldn’t mind having sex, eventually, y’know?” Suddenly he felt bashful.  
  
Robin just leaned in, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Chrom tilted his head more towards Robin’s mouth.  
  
Again they kissed slowly. There was heat behind the kisses, but not quite the heat that had them diving towards each other immediately. Slow making out was incredibly nice. Chrom wanted to leave more marks on Robin. He was sitting up now, still kissing Robin in a slow, nice way that had the others fingers curling into his shirt. There was still a hand on his face and Chrom pulled away first, since he needed to breathe, actually breathe.  
  
Robin buried his head in Chrom’s neck, and Chrom nuzzled the top of his head. “Can I leave a mark on you?” Robin’s voice was a little muffled, and he moved his head away from Chrom’s neck so that he could speak properly.   
  
“Of course,” the idea of Robin leaving a mark on him excited him. Robin started off slower than Chrom did, a little bit more unsure. He started off with nips and kisses, before his teeth bit down into Chrom’s neck. Chrom tilted his head back, allowing more room for Robin’s mouth. It felt nice to have the other biting him -- as strange as it sounded, and he felt goosebumps rise up from his skin when Robin licked the little bite, kissing it afterward.   
  
As soon as Robin lifted his head up, Chrom was kissing him again. He pulled Robin into his lap the best that he could. Robin shifted a little bit so he was more comfortable and accepted the kisses from Chrom. Chrom gently rubbed the other’s hips and enjoyed the small noise that kissing elicited out of Robin. A very stray thought had him wondering how Robin would sound if Chrom were to properly touch him.  
  
“Tell me if I make you uncomfortable,” Chrom mumbled, sucking a mark on another spot on Robin’s neck. Robin didn’t respond, just digging his fingers in his hair. It was so tempting to just run his hands underneath Robin’s shirt. He slipped some of his fingers under there and Robin twitched when it tickled him gently.  
  
Chrom mumbled an apology before continuing to kiss him. His hands trailed up Robin’s shirt. Robin didn’t stop him, preening underneath the touch. Chrom was leaving red, blotchy marks on Robin’s neck without thinking.

Robin kissed him again, and Chrom kissed him back willing and eager. They just kept kissing each other.   
  
Again, they stopped. It was disappointing to stop, but they needed to pull away since the dogs were whining at them. “They need to be walked,” Robin looked at Chrom. Chrom let out a small hum and gave Robin a brief kiss.  
  
“Let’s go walk them then,” he didn’t want to leave the bed. But walking the dogs with Robin was always fun. Robin got off of his lap and found a sweater to zip up. Chrom watched him for a moment before getting out of the bed too.   
  
They could come back and kiss each other as much as they were able to later.   
  
Chrom followed Robin out of the apartment with the dogs, feeling as if he was floating on cloud nine.  
  
The walk was quick, but it was still enough for them both to get pretty cold. The dogs even rushed back inside, rushing almost as fast as they did to get back into bed. Chrom wrapped his arms around Robin, pressing kisses to his face.  
  
“You guys are the type of couple that make me want to throw up,” Gaius had managed to make his way back to the living room. He had books in front of him.   
  
“You and Libra make me want to throw up,” Robin wrapped his hand around Chrom’s wrist.   
  
“I think they’re considerably less sappy than we are,” Chrom grinned at Robin as the shorter man led him back to the bed.  
  
“We’re sappy because of you,” Robin kissed him gently when they got back to the bed. Chrom just kept smiling.


	24. Puppy Eyes

With finals season approaching, it seemed as if everyone was getting more and more flustered. Robin couldn’t blame them, or judge them since he was also getting as flustered as them. He placed his head down gently on the desk in front of him (or was it considered a table? He was truly to burnt out to really care about properly calling it it’s name, he was using it as a desk and it was in a classroom so it was a desk).

The library was silent and he knew that he should be focusing on the essay that he had to write but a nap sounded way more appealing.

Especially with the amount of silence, the only noises being occasional whispered, the sound of people tapping, or maybe a page turning.

Robin shifted his head, laying it on the side so that he was staring at a wall. There was a sign that stated ‘NO MEATBALLS IN THE LIBRARY’ and Robin wondered what had happened with meatballs that it warranted it’s own sign. Maybe he could ask the librarian? Because he clearly wasn’t getting more than two hundred words into his essay. His ten page essay. It wasn’t even the longest essay that he had written but he needed to start writing it now, if he put it off even more than he was going to feel even more overwhelmed with it.

He let out a soft groan, glancing down at his phone. His friend Panne was supposed to come down and study too, keep him company. But she was taking a while, and Robin was beginning to feel extra bored and lonely.

Maybe Chrom wasn’t busy? Robin felt that he was a little bit of a clingy boyfriend. He couldn’t really help it, he lov-- he liked Chrom a lot. And he really enjoyed him. Still, it didn’t mean that he could always call on Chrom to join him everywhere. He was sure the other was doing something busy, like his own school work. Or looking at nerdy games again (apparently he had played diplomacy in high school and he had loved it).

“I thought you were here to study,” Robin picked his head up too fast when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Panne was looking at him, her brows a little bit furrowed.

“I am. I’m just taking a quick break,” Robin defended himself. She let out a hum and slid into a seat in front of him.

“Sorry it took me so long to get here. Campus gets confusing for me still, even worse it’s snowing out,” Panne pulled out her laptop.

“I thought you grew up in an area that it snows?”

“So did you, yet you whine every time that it does,” Panne raised an eyebrow at him and Robin frowned a little bit at her.

“It hurts my wrist,” he defended himself, yet again. Panne constantly prodded at him (he didn’t mind, she wasn’t mean, just quick to call out bullshit).

“Yes, because you dislocated it. How far are you in the essay?” Panne switched the topics quickly.

“About two hundred words.”

“Robin,” Panne looked at him. “How long have you been here?”

Robin was silent for a moment, shrugging his shoulders finally. “I don’t know. Two hours maybe?” Panne was one of those people who took academics very seriously, since she had basically gotten a scholarship and wouldn’t have attended otherwise (Robin couldn’t blame her, with what he knew from her high school career, she deserved the scholarship there). Two hours doing nothing was probably a crime to her, and Robin prepared himself for her words.

Surprisingly, Panne just blinked at him. “What are you stuck on?”

“I can’t really get past the introduction paragraph. I know what I’m talking about and all of my points, but none of them want to be written into a paragraph,” he was relieved when she had just talked to him like a normal person. Robin was also a scholarship child, he realized that she understood what it was like to just not have what you needed to have. Academics were weird and sometimes his brain didn’t fully function for them.

“Have you tried just freetyping?”

Robin threw his head back, letting out a small groan. “Yeah. But nothings working for me so far,” he sat up straight again and glared at his laptop. He drummed his fingers on his table, resting his head in his hand as he stared at it. Panne’s eyes flickered over to his hand. He stopped drumming his fingers. “I just can’t focus I guess,” he sighed a little bit, frustrated.

Panne hummed a little bit, her eyes straying from his hand and reaching his face again. “Have you had anything to eat or drink? Maybe that’s why?”

“I’ve had water but not much else? Maybe I’ll grab some snacks or something,” he nodded his head as if assuring himself that that was a good idea. “Do you want anything? I can make a quick run,” thankfully the library allowed drinks. Food was very minimal, but as long as they weren’t meatballs Robin believed that they should be fine.

“No, I should be fine. Mae the run quick though. I want you to look over this page when you get back,” Panne was staring at her laptop screen now. Robin nodded his head, grabbing his coat so he could shuffle over to the nearest place with coffee (the library sold some, but honestly it wasn’t worth it in his opinion).   
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
The cafe was a little busy. Most of the customers being other college students trying to study in the warm space. Robin got his coffee (and a muffin) and got out of there quickly. The snow hadn’t let up, coming down in thicker flakes now. He rushed to the library, getting inside and hustling back to his table. Panne glanced up at him when he arrived.

He felt like he was too out of breath for what someone should have been. But Panne didn’t comment on that. “You needed me to look at something?” he asked her, pulling off his jacket after settling his stuff down.

“Yes, I think this entire paragraph could be phrased better but I’m unsure how to do so. Also, this seems just weird,” Panne began to point out the things that she wanted him to look at. Robin nodded his head, listening in earnest to what she was saying. He grabbed her laptop, careful to not spill or drop anything on it.

He glared at the screen (why was her brightness so high?) and read over the paragraph. “I’ll make my comments and stuff in a different color,” he looked at her for an okay. Panne nodded her head and he began to work.

It was a good distraction, focusing on someone else's’ work rather than his own. It allowed for Robin to feel less frustrated, it also allowed for his own ideas to start streaming. They weren’t writing about the same topic but editing still helped in some weird way. When Robin was done finding all of the mistakes that he possibly could (PAnne was meticulous, she tended to go through her own mistakes -- Robin could easily tell) he handed the laptop back over to her and got to work on his own essay.

The essay seemed to flow freely once he had seen a setup that was similar to his to know what he wanted. Robin furrowed his brows as he focused, chewing his lower lip as he stared down at the screen. A little notification popped up in the corner, alerting him that someone had messaged him. A quick glance told RObin that it had been his brother. Robin ignored the message, and instead focused on his work.

It lingered in the back of his mind though, and he tried not to let his attentions tray too much from his work. But still he wondered what his brother wanted.

Chewing on his tongue, Robin ignored it in favor of getting his work done. Panne and him didn’t speak much more, only to compare notes now and then. Other than that they did not talk. Robin’s fingers seemed to be typing a million miles per hour, and he eventually got so engrossed that he was able to ignore the buzzing coming from his phone.

By the end of just being in the library with Panne, he had managed to get five out of all of the pages done. Which, in Robin’s opinion, was a pretty good start. And he wasn’t even going to let himself write all the way and then edit. No, he would edit as he went along because then he would be able to catch the mistakes earlier and he wouldn’t mess up his pages or anything like that.

It was almost too easy to forget about any of his anxieties as he wrote.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

Anxieties still existed, whether or not Robin wanted them to. In the library there was enough distractions for him to ignore them. Yet, strangely enough, tucked underneath Chrom’s arm, watching a movie (god Robin hadn’t even been paying attention to the movie) there weren’t enough distractions. And that caused his mind to go rampant.

“You’ve been chewing your lower lip and glancing at your phone every five minutes, what’s wrong?” Chrom asked him, his fingers were running very lightly up and down Robin’s arm.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Chrom frowned a little bit, and Robin wanted to kiss the pout off of his face. He leaned in and pressed his lips very gently against Chrom’s. “Sorry,” he apologized quietly to his boyfriend.

“For what?”

“Being distracted while we’re watching something. It’s rude of me,” Robin told him.

The pout was there still, and now there was a furrow. “I don’t mind if you’re being rude. You’re not even being that rude. What’s wrong?” Chrom asked him, his tone was very soft. He leaned down and nuzzled Robin’s neck, mimicking Lucina. Robin couldn’t help but laugh when Chrom’s hair tickled his face.

“It’s just my brother, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing,” Robin tried to brush it off as usual. Chrom peeked at him from where he was nuzzling. “Really,” Robin was attempting to appease his boyfriends worries.

“Robin,” Chrom’s voice was soft. “What’s going on with your brother?”

“He’s just -- ” Robin sighed, “It’s really nothing. At least it should be. But he’s bugging me again. I get it, y’know? We’re supposed to be related, we’re twins and all of that. But no matter how many times I tell him I don’t want to see him he just keeps demanding more. Honestly, I think he does it because he knows it upsets me,” everything just spilled out without Robin meaning for it to. “I basically ignored him for most of our life, and maybe that was wrong of me? I don’t know. I just don’t want to talk to him, or my dad. And he seems determined to make both of those things happen,” he crossed his arms and huffed a little bit. His cheeks were flushed and he felt incredibly embarrassed by what he said.

“Robin,” Chrom’s voice was still very soft. “I’m sorry,” he nuzzled his boyfriend again. “Do you want to keep talking?” Chrom didn’t seem the least disturbed by his ranting.

There was a moment of silence. Robin played with the ends of his sweater. “I guess? I’ve just been trying to ignore him. Putting my phone on disturbed, trying to distract myself from it. But he just keeps on insisting. There’s a reason I left with my mom and he knows that I don’t like our dad, and our dad doesn’t like me, and my brother is just too peachy on that idea. And god it’s so dumb. It’s so obvious he’s just trying to get a rise out of me.”

“Do you think it’s really just a ruse?” Chrom asked him, playing with some curls.

Truthfully, there was a part of Robin that was unsure. But then he nodded his head before leaning into Chrom’s touch when he began to draw it away. “Yes, I am,” Robin sighed. “Sorry,” he apologized.

“It’s okay,” Chrom mumbled. He pressed a kiss against Robin’s cheek. “Do you want to continue?” He asked him.

Robin nodded his head. “Yeah. I never got along with my dad. I still don't. My mom doesn’t get along with him either, I never knew why they got married. They weren’t married for very long though. My brother and I got along well for a while, and then we grew apart because growing up that just happens. He became more like my dad, and I became more like my mom. And we were both little shits but he got shittier I guess? I don’t really know how to explain it,” it felt bad to say all of this to Chrom. At the same time i t felt relieving. Because Robin didn’t like talking about this.

“So yeah, we just grew apart. But then he chose my dad’s side in the divorce. No big deal. Except that he constantly tried to make me feel terrible about choosing to be with my mom, and my dad was the same way. And I did feel terrible which sucked because I love my mom. I just know that if I talk to them, or spend much time with them I’ll feel terrible again,” Robin curled in even more into Chrom. He pulled his knees up so that he was even smaller.

Chrom was silent for a while, his hands were still in Robin’s hair. Robin closed his eyes and relaxed. He bit back the urge to apologize again. Shouldn’t he be able to talk about this with Chrom? “I’ve just been trying to ignore it, distract myself,” Robin whispered.

“I understand. A little,” Chrom admitted. “I never had much family issues but I understand where you’re coming from,” he clarified. “I can help distract you, if you want?” Chrom suggested.

Robin nodded his head. There was a terrible aching feeling in his chest and he had no idea why it was even there. It didn’t belong there. He leaned up and kissed Chrom gently. Chrom kissed him back. A hand was still in his hair, toying with the strands still and he found himself uncurling a little bit. The movie was just background noise as Robin crawled into Chrom’s lap easily. His legs caged Chrom’s hips, his boyfriend not seeming to mind. Robin didn’t change the pressure of their kisses but eventually he pulled away so that he could instead kiss his cheek.

Chrom looked at him for a moment, meeting his eyes before the two of them were kissing again. Chrom’s hands pressed into his hips, not gripping tightly but tight enough that it made him feel secure. Robin wounded his arms around Chrom’s neck. This was a good distraction -- a great one he decided when he felt Chrom lick at his bottom lip, almost tentative.

Robin opened his mouth, letting Chrom kiss him in a way that stole his breath away. Chrom didn’t kiss him as if he was trying to claim Robin’s mouth. He kissed him gently despite the fact that Robin could feel his grip tightening just a little bit on his hips. Robin pressed himself closer to Chrom, their chests touching.

“Chrom,” Robin’s voice was very soft. He kissed his boyfriend again, gently, a peck. And then he kissed the underside of his jaw. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” Chrom kissed the top of his head before letting it fall back. Robin continued to kiss him, his mouth trailing down to his neck. “Anytime you need me,” one of his hands found Robin’s hair again. The strands buried themselves into the nape of his neck. Robin wanted to leave a little mark where his mouth was. He just nipped it very gently, hearing a very small hiss from Chrom. Robin glanced at him.

“This sounds so high school but can I leave some hickies?” Robin asked him.

Chrom grinned at him, a grin that was way too wolfish and nodded his head. “Of course.”

“That excites you too much,” Robin couldn’t help but snicker at the expression. He leaned in again and pressed more kisses against his neck. His mouth found a spot that it liked, and he began to slowly make a mark ther. The hand that was still on his hip drew small circles into his bone before slowly trailing lower. It stopped though, before it could be officially called touching Robin’s ass.

Robin wiggled a little bit in Chrom’s lap. He continued to make marks wherever he thought necessary. He wanted to make more and more marks, wanting to mark him below his shirt. Shirts tended to be annoying, getting in the way when they weren’t really needed. Robin paused for a moment, before just leaning up and pressing a kiss against Chrom’s lips again. Chrom kissed him back instantly.

Both of his hands went to his waist and he rolled the two of them over so that Robin was on his back. He wrapped his legs around Chrom’s waist very carefully. It was almost too smooth how Chrom was able to move them on the couch without issue. Chrom stared down at Robin’s face, and Robin stared back up at him. Chrom’s face was illuminated by the television. It casted blue shadows on his face and he kissed him again.

Chrom kissed him back. Robin felt content to just lay there. Lay there and kiss Chrom until they both faded into the couch. He could feel himself melting with every movement of the other’s lips and he drew him closer by his legs, locking his ankles behind Chrom’s back. A hand up his side surprised him, Robin jolting just a little bit when his bare skin was touched. Chrom was pulling away to no doubt apologize but Robin placed his mouth on his again.

The other seemed content with this, kissing Robin back -- again in the way that left him breathless yet aching for more at the same time. The hand stayed under his shirt. It didn’t explore much but it gently touched his sides.

Making out on the couch hadn’t been the plan for the night (he had intended for it to happen in the bedroom because honestly, Frederick could walk in at any moment). But Robin couldn’t think past the feeling of Chrom and the feeling of Chrom’s tongue in his mouth, how warm he was and how nice it felt to just kiss him like this. Robin bunched his hand into the back of Chrom’s shirt.

It felt nice to just feel loved.


	25. Sun Bathing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the lack of update last week, i was finishing up the story, one more chapter after this  
> it's been a long road guys (literally, i originally wrote the first chapter in like ninth grade or smth i dont even remember)

“Nice necklace you have there,” Chrom’s friend, Stahl had laughed as soon as he had appeared on the computer screen. Chrom, in response, touched the bruises gently and then sent Stahl a very happy grin.  
  
“Thanks, I’ll tell my boyfriend that you’re impressed with his work,” Chrom quipped back. Chrom was also very impressed with his boyfriend's work. And he wanted to see Robin again. Because he was a lovesick puppy who needed attention from his affections at all times. It seemed like Robin was feeling better, since he responded quicker to Chrom’s texts, and he was so hunched in anymore.  
  
Hopefully, the small cloud that had appeared over his boyfriend had disappeared. If it hadn’t, then that was okay. Chrom would help it go away, and he would make sure that Robin was okay throughout the process.  
  
Stahl had made a face when Chrom stated that. Their chat had dissolved into a mess of teasing, and Chrom was not a good teaser. But he did attempt (Chrom didn’t think he could actually be considered funny either, but again he could attempt).  
  
Although he was talking to a friend who he missed and hadn’t seen in a long time, Chrom’s thoughts were more consumed with Robin than ever.  
  
His chest ached, his lips craved him, and Chrom just wanted to feel the warmth of the others body next to him again. It wasn’t an obsession, he just wanted to be near his boyfriend and make sure that he was okay. Which, he felt was perfectly normal.  
  
“How is your boyfriend?” Stahl asked him, leaning back in his desk chair. Chrom couldn’t help but grin.  
  
“Great, obviously,” he was still very much lovesick. His expression was slightly flushed he noticed in the corner of the screen. “How are you?” Chrom asked him, not wanting to just talk about his life and his boyfriend. He wouldn’t mind doing that, but he also felt like Stahl needed to talk about his own life, let Chrom know what was going on.  
  
Stahl instantly began to tell him about the most recent thing he was learning how to cook, how his classes were going, and what he was possibly planning on doing for his career. Chrom listened to him, watching the way that Stahl spoke. He spoke like he used to in high school, he didn’t talk as much with his hands however.  
  
“So, I almost ended up dropping the knife on my toe. No big deal though! It landed an inch away. And I managed to not burn the meal and it was delicious,” Stahl told him with a way too relaxed smile for someone who had almost chopped off their own toe.  
  
“I think you should be watched in the kitchen,” Chrom stated. “You’re a culinary genius but you’re way too dangerous to be on your own. I remember when you got that big oil burn in senior year,” he stared at his friend who just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
“Mm-mm-mm, I don’t think it’s a big deal. I’ve healed and I learn from every injury I get when I cook,” Stahl replied.  
  
“I guess? At the same time though, you do set yourself up for a big risk whenever you’re on your own,” Chrom rested his cheek against his hand.  
  
Stahl waved his hand, rolling his eyes. “Don’t worry dude,” his eyes glanced down at the little clock in the corner of their screen. “Do you have to go soon?” Stahl had moved to the other side of the country after high school. They were about three hours apart.  
  
“No, I’m fine,” he shrugged his shoulders. He looked at Stahl for a moment, “Unless you have to go?” He asked.  
  
Stahl glanced at the time, pressing his lips together as he thought about it. “I’ll have to go in fifteen minutes to get ready,” he looked at Chrom. “I’m surprised you don’t have anything to do. You were busy all of the time in high school.”  
  
“I exhausted myself in high school. College is already exhausting as it is,” in high school he had done so many things. He had played sports, and was a captain as a senior. And he did school activities like debate club, there was so many things that he had done so it was nice to not do anything in college now. All he had to worry about was being social and focusing on his classwork. The classwork was exhausting enough, Chrom was glad that he didn’t try to do anything else.  
  
“I understand,” Stahl nodded his head. Chrom had tried to seen some school activities before when he had first started but none of them were for him.  
  
The two of them chatted a little bit more.  
  
Eventually Stahl did have to go, since he had bills to pay and he needed to go to work. Chrom leaned back in his chair when everything was over and done with. He stared at his laptop’s background for a few moments, letting out a small puff of air. Winter break was coming up so most of his energy had been spent towards making sure that his classes were on the right track, and making sure that Robin was coping well with the stress of school.  
  
He stared down at his phone. There were a few texts from his boyfriend but not so many, and they had stopped after a certain time. Chrom was pretty sure that Robin was busy but he still wanted to text him. Chrom tapped on his laptop for a moment before sending his boyfriend a small text.  
  
Neither of them really had enough time to go on a proper date since they had both decided to save money and focus on studying for their classes. Chrom wanted to go on a date though, he wanted to go and take Robin out to see a movie or something.  
  
Chrom  
[4:30 PM] OK So I know we both decided to save money and time and all of that junk and just hang out if we want to go on a date  
[4:31 PM] But I want to take you out, it’s been a while and we can do something calm if you want to  
[4:31 PM] The zoo is having a light show, since it’s getting near Christmas and it’s not that expensive so maybe we can go and see that?  
  
After sending his messages, he put down his phone and stretched. Chrom made sure to double check the prices of the tickets. For the two of them it shouldn’t be that expensive, especially considering that they were students. It wasn’t super close by but they could make a day trip out of it if they really wanted too. Chrom thought that that sounded nice.  
  
It took a little while but eventually Robin responded.  
  
Robin  
[5:00 PM] hey!!!!  
[5:00 PM] the zoo sounds nice, I need to do something other than studying anyways tbh and getting fresh air sounds good  
[5:01 PM] send me the details? I wanna see some pretty lights  
  
Chrom smiled at the thought of Robin being excited by the lights. He had never gone to the event but from what he had heard, they were really nice. As requested, Chrom sent him the link zoo and the light show. Lucina began to claw at Chrom’s pants, he reached down and scratched her behind the ears. The cat leaned into his touch happily before jumping into his lap and settling down there. Lucina curled up, still purring loudly as she kneaded his thighs.  
  
He sent Robin a picture of the cat. Her eyes were slowly beginning to close, eventually closing. Lucina was still kneading his thighs as she slept and Chrom couldn’t find it within himself to stop her.  
  
Robin  
[5:01 PM] it sounds fun  
[5:01 PM] I’m down for it  
  
Chrom  
[5:02 PM] Cool! I’ll pick you up then  
  
Robin  
[5:03 PM] great!  
  
Chrom couldn’t help but feel a little bit satisfied by getting a date with Robin. He still felt like he needed to flirt and chase his boyfriend, which figured was a good thing. A weird flirting tactic from his was sending pictures of his cat, but it seemed like Robin liked them and he did the same with his dogs.  
  
Chrom sent Robin a few more pictures of his cat and his boyfriend responded with several pictures of his dogs. They looked happy in each one, a photo of Morrigan with a destroyed chew toy in her mouth was his favorite.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
He was pretty excited to see the light show. Chrom hadn’t gone to one since he was younger, Lissa had liked it a lot and so did Emm but they never had another chance to see the lights. So he was happy to be able to go with Robin, especially because his boyfriend seemed excited too.  
  
Chrom picked up Robin around five, the sun had begun to set and his boyfriend was bundled up due to the ever dropping temperature. When Robin entered the car, Chrom leaned across the dashboard and kissed him gently. “Hey,” he greeted him with a small smile on his face.  
  
“Hello,” Robin greeted him back. There was a small smile on his face too, and there seemed to be bags developing under his eyes. No doubt they were born of sleepless nights pouring over textbooks. Chrom gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How long of the drive is it?”  
  
“About thirty minutes, we’ll get there a little bit early,” Chrom glanced down at his GPS.  
  
“Cool,” Robin nodded his head. Chrom began to drive and Robin relaxed in the car seat next to him. There was a little bit of traffic but it wasn’t heavy enough to slow down their journey, thankfully.  
  
“How did you find out about this?” Robin asked.  
  
“There was a flier on the quad somewhere, it got covered by another flier though,” Chrom shrugged his shoulders. “There’s not a whole lot of advertising but I think there’s also a facebook group? Thing. Event. Whatever they’re considered,” he scanned the roads before glancing at Robin. The other was watching him silently for a moment, there was a far away look in his eyes and a small smile on his face.  
  
“What?” Chrom asked him, looking away from Robin to look back on the road.  
  
“Nothing,” Robin responded. “Is there going to be a lot of people?”  
  
“Probably. It’s most likely just going to be families though,” it was a nice family experience. He figured that other people thought the same, or were keeping up some sort of tradition.  
  
“That’s not bad. Little kids are meh sometimes but I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Robin shrugged and looked out the window. Chrom glanced at him, smiling a little bit before staring at the window.  
  
“You don’t like little kids?”  
  
“I don’t like it when they scream. Which I’m sure everyone relates to.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess so,” Chrom realized that they had never talked about anything have to do with children. Did that mean they weren’t planning on having kids together? Or did it just mean that it had never crossed their minds as a couple? Chrom was sure that it was the latter, but he now found himself wanting to talk about the possibility of children now. But they hadn’t even said ‘I love you’ to each other. So that was a conversation that was a long time away.  
  
Chrom still found himself suddenly worrying about it though.  
  
He hated his brain.  
  
Robin and him didn’t say much else. The silence between them was nice though. Despite Chrom still thinking about kids (god, why?) he was able to enjoy the fact that they were able to be around each other and not speak. He thought it was nice, especially since it wasn’t an awkward silence.  
  
They got the zoo eventually, although it had taken them awhile to actually find good parking.  
  
Robin looped his arm with Chrom’s when they started walking in, and Chrom couldn’t help but smile down at him. He was so cute. Once they were out of the parking lot he leaned down and pressed a kiss against his mouth. Robin kissed him back happily, smiling a little bit in the kiss. When they pulled away they kept walking to the front gate of the zoo. Robin leaned more into Chrom.  
  
“I haven’t been here yet, actually,” he stared up at the animal patterns in the gate.  
  
“I figured. I went here once when my sisters were visiting. It’s not incredibly big but it’s a nice size, and I think you’ll like it,” Chrom gently pulled him along as they got to the entrance of the gate. He paid for the tickets, Robin not putting up a fight at this point. They got inside, little bands on their wrist saying that they were visiting for the lights festival.  
  
“Most of the animals would be hiding, wouldn’t they?” Robin looked down at his wrist, turning it so that he could see everything that was written on it.  
  
“I guess,” Chrom was pretty sure that the zoo didn’t force the animals out into the cold when it was the winter time. “We could still see some of the animals that might be out and about,” Chrom suggested. “We have about fifteen minutes until the event actually starts, so we can just chill out? The event actually has to do with the animals so,” he looked down at his boyfriend who nodded his hair.  
  
Chrom thought that he looked handsome, but he always thought that about Robin.  
  
They just relaxed for a little bit, walking around the small area they were in and visiting the gift shop even though they didn’t have the intention on buying anything. Eventually it was time for the actual event to begin, which Chrom was excited for. He wrapped an arm around Robin’s waist and held him close as they waited for the floodgates to happen. There were some showings that they could go and see, but he wondered if Robin just wanted to walk around, see the lights and the animals and then go back home.  
  
He would probably ask him once it was nearing the times for the shows. Robin walked close by him the entire time, Chrom made sure to keep his arm on his waist. He leaned down and kept pressing kisses against his face. Robin seemed happy with these kisses even if they were just small ones.  
  
“Stop it,” Robin laughed a little bit at one point, gently pushing against Chrom’s chest. Chrom let out a laugh.  
  
In the lights, Robin’s hair was reflecting different colors. Chrom thought that it was beautiful. He took a few strands and played with it once they had stopped walking. They were near some wolves but he didn’t really bother to go and look at them, busy admiring his boyfriend in the pretty lights.  
  
“Come on, let’s keep walking,” Robin interrupted his admiration and began to drag him away from the spot they had just been standing at. Chrom just nodded his head and elt Robin pull him along. There was a smile on his lips and Robin had one as well.  
  
“Hold on, let’s take a picture,” Chrom stopped them again. They were at a very bright place, the colors were dancing along their skin and painted the cobblestone streets of the zoo in a rainbow. Robin nodded his head.  
  
“Sure,” he agreed. Chrom pulled him closer, as if they hadn’t been standing close already. He snapped a selfie of the two of them, one with both of them smiling at the camera. He turned kissed Robin, taking a picture the best that he was able too while still holding his phone. Chrom didn’t take pictures of himself often, same with taking pictures with really anyone in his life. But he wanted to have a copy of the moment without it being in his memory.  
  
Since the zoo was so small, it didn’t take very long for them to finish up there. “Do you want to see the snake show?” Robin asked him, looking at the very small itinerary that they had been handed when they first entered the zoo.  
  
The show wasn’t very long and really was more about information on some of the snakes they had there, and how they helped them out. Things like that mixed with a little bit of pretty lights. Chrom couldn’t help but find it cool anyways, especially since the snake handler seemed to have a good relationship with the animals that he was working with.  
  
“He’s like a snake focused Steve Irwin,” Robin had whispered to him partway through it, and Chrom stifled a small laugh.  
  
“He is,” he agreed with Robin. By the time that the show was over, it was nearing eight in the evening. “Do you want me to take you home?” Chrom asked him, since it was beginning to get later and later. Eight wasn’t super late at all, but he figured that Robin might want to go home so that he could go to bed early.  
  
“If you go home with me,” Robin stated, biting his lower lip as if he was nervous about suggesting it.  
  
“You want me to stay the night?” Chrom asked him and Robin nodded his head. He looked weirdly nervous still but Chrom just leaned down and kissed his mouth gently. “Sure,” he smiled. Frederick could take of Lucina for the night with no issue.  
  
“Gaius isn’t home,” Robin stated as they headed back towards the parking lot. A few thoughts ran across Chrom’s mind when he said that, but he pushed them back down.  
  
“Oh,” Chrom said quietly. Robin looked down at him. Oh. Ohhhh. “Okay, cool,” his cheeks turned a light pink. He pulled Robin a little bit faster towards the car, and Robin let out a light laugh when Chrom all but ran there. The ride home was going to be pretty long but he didn’t think that it was going to be a bad thing.  
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

  
Getting back to Robin’s apartment didn’t take very long, by some miracle. When they had gotten there they were quick to walk the dogs before getting back inside and instantly taking off their shoes and jackets. And then their mouths were on each other quickly. It was soft at first but Robin pulled Chrom closer and they became harder.  
  
The path to the bedroom was rocky, and they almost tripped several times. But eventually they got on the bed, and Robin had crawled into his lap incredibly quickly.  
  
They spent the rest of the night kissing. And Chrom was more than happy to have Robin in his arms, hear him, and be so close to the man he loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fade out sex more like im too lazy to write smut


	26. Puppy Love

Robin woke up the next morning, his head was on Chrom’s chest and Chrom’s fingers were buried in his hair. His boyfriend’s other hand was busy scrolling through his phone. He leaned up and nuzzled his neck. “Hey,” he mumbled. His body felt sore, and he felt a little gross but he didn’t bother moving away from Chrom.

“Hey, good morning,” Chrom kissed the top of his head. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good. You?” Robin traced small circles into Chrom’s skin.

“Great, actually. You’re bed is incredibly comfortable. Where did you get this comforter?” Chrom messed with the sheets. Robin snorted a little bit.

“I got it from Target.”

“Target is the god of supermarkets,” Chrom stated dramatically, and Robin let out a small laugh. He kissed Chrom gently, shifting a little bit so that he was straddling his waist. Chrom placed his hands on his waist, kissing Robin back happily. “Do you want to…?” Chrom asked him, slipping a hand in Robin’s shirt and rubbing it along his side gently.

“Yeah,” Robin nodded his head, leaning down and nipping gently at Chrom’s jaw. He enjoyed the way that Chrom sighed underneath him. The other’s hands were warm on his skin, and Robin couldn’t help but let out a soft noise of appreciation when their lips connected into a kiss. He was just focused on Chrom.

It took him a moment to realize that there was a noise other than the two of them, and that it was getting louder by the second. The realization hit him in the face, causing him to roll off Chrom (the other had let out a sound of disappointment when he did), and get out of bed, he opened the door to let the two dogs in. Morgan had been scratching at it, and Morrigan had just been whining until they were allowed into the room. The two brushed past him and went to sniffing Chrom who was still in his bed.

They sniffed at the sheets and Robin pushed them off of the bed (this time, the disappointed noise came from the two of them and not his boyfriend). It was weird to have his dogs sniffing the bed sheets, especially because they were still dirty from the night before.

“Let me shower and then I’ll take you guys out for a walk, okay?” Robin cooed at the animals, ignoring the slight twinge in his lower back when he squatted to pet them. The dogs panted in his face, Morgan wagging his tail excitedly at the mention of a walk. He went out of the room and after a moment, Morrigan followed.

Robin stood up slowly and stretched before looking at Chrom, who was staring at him. He looked a little smug and Robin flicked him in the nose. Chrom covered his nose with his hands, letting out a noise closer to a squawk than anything that sounded remotely human.

“I would invite you to the shower but I don’t think you’ll allow me to get cleaned,” Robin dug through his drawers till he found a clean pair of boxers and sweatpants, grabbing a sweatshirt from high school off of the chair in his room.

“That’s false,” Chrom stated as he got out of bed, stretching a little bit. Robin rolled his eyes. “Do you want me to change the sheets while you shower?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, the linens are in the small closet next to the bathroom,” Robin smiled at Chrom, rolling onto his toes and kissing his boyfriend gently. “I have to be quick otherwise they’ll get impatient and start bugging you for a walk,” he made his way out of the bedroom.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Chrom mumbled as he left. Robin went into the bathroom, starting up the water, undressing and hopping in. The dogs were bound to be bothering Chrom by now. Robin knew that he wouldn’t mind since he treated the dogs as if they were the best things on earth (aside from Lucina that is, Lucina was probably the love of his life).

Robin finished his shower and got dressed, going to the bedroom where Chrom was scouting for clothes. “I’m done if you want to go in,” Robin told him. “I’ll walk the dogs real quick,” he pressed a kiss against Chrom’s cheek.

“Be safe,” Chrom told him.

Robin let out a noise of confirmation, grabbing his leashes and putting them on the eager dogs. He let them lead him out of the house since it was better than him fighting with them to get through first, but took the walk over after that. The dogs were fine with this, Morrigan stopping to sniff everything under the sun every once and awhile. Morgan was just happy to be out, getting distracted by the occasional squirrel that ran away from them (it was a miracle he didn’t shoot out of Robin’s hands as soon as he saw the squirrels).

The walk only lasted a few minutes. Even though the dogs had pretty thick coats, they didn’t like being outside so early in the morning. And Robin was tired. So when they were done and satisfied, he turned back and went towards his apartment. Maybe later he’ll walk them for longer, maybe play a little bit in the park with them.

When he got into his apartment he was pleased with how warm it was. He shucked off his shoes and took off the dogs leashes. Chrom was holding a cup of coffee and sat on his couch. Robin went over to him and sat down next to him, flopping his head on his shoulder.

He could see droplets of water from there, Chrom’s hair still wet from the shower. Robin leaned up and nuzzled his neck with a small hum.

“Good walk?” Chrom asked him.

“Cold walk,” Robin replied. He wondered if he was allowed to steal some of Chrom’s coffee. It was technically his anyways. “Had a nice shower?”

“Yeah,” Chrom nodded his head. “Hey, the total surface of Sweden is covered about 17% by blueberry bushes,” Chrom set down his cup of coffee and began to run his fingers in Robin’s hair. Morrigan climbed onto the couch and into their laps. Robin buried his fingers into her fur, the dog yawning before closing her eyes.

“Where did that come from?” Robin asked him with an amused huff.

“I was reading up on some trivia. By the way, the blueberries there are what we call huckleberries. Completely different, but you know, translation stuff, same word and different meaning,” Chrom shrugged his shoulders.

Robin hummed, nuzzling Chrom again. “Any other fun facts that you wanna tell me?”

“Wombats poop squares.”

Robin snorted, burying his face into his boyfriend’s neck at that statement. He curled his toes and Chrom laughed a little bit. “Do they?”

“Yeah, they poop squares.”

“Good to know. If I ever find any square poops I’ll make sure to let people know that there’s a wild wombat on the loose,” Morrigan had begun to snore in their lap and he leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of Chrom’s mouth. Chrom shifted their heads and kissed Robin gently.

“Do you have everything to do today?” Chrom asked him, kissing him slowly some more.

“Mm, no. We can just stay inside if you want?”

“That sounds good to me,” Chrom agreed.

Robin curled up a little bit more to Chrom’s side. Which was difficult, since Morrigan was still asleep on his legs. Everything seemed right in the world in that moment and Robin just pressed small kisses against Chrom’s neck. Not attempting to initiate anything, just showing that he was there and placing affection on him.

At some point, Chrom had put on the TV. Brooklyn Nine-Nine was playing and Robin let out a small laugh every now and then. Chrom’s fingers were playing with his hair and it was incredibly nice, causing Robin to close his eyes. The two of them didn’t talk which was fine. Robin was comfortable. There was a big dog on his lap, a man he loved stroking his hair, and there was a funny show playing. He could hear Morgan chewing a bone somewhere in the background and he opened his eyes.

“Do you think that the people who write these shows watch them and laugh their asses off?”

“I would hope they find it funny too,” Robin stated. “I mean, they have to, don’t they? If they’re going to allow it on air?”

“I guess. But like do you think they die of laughter from how funny their own jokes are?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Robin raised a brow.

“I don’t,” Chrom looked at him.

“Chrom, you laughed so hard you were crying the other day because you thought of a really bad pun,” Robin blinked at him slowly. Chrom opened his mouth and Robin covered it with his own before he could say something. “You laugh at your own dumb jokes, don’t deny it,” Robin stated before kissing him again. Chrom kissed him back. Robin was pretty sure that he would always kiss him back, and he was going to be grateful towards that. Not kissing Chrom would be painful.

They kissed for a while.

Eventually they pulled away, Robin kissing his cheek. “Tell me a joke,” he said.

“What do you call a group of unorganized cats?”

“Normal cats?”

“A cat-astrophe.”

Robin let out a snort, he pressed his face against Chrom’s shoulder again. He just kept laughing for a while. “That was terrible,” Robin laughed. It was an honestly terrible pun but he found himself laughing despite it, because jesus that was terrible. And his boyfriend seemed to enjoy the hell of it too.

Chrom was laughing, a deep chuckle that made Robin grin. “I thought it was a good joke.”

“Of course you did,” Robin was still laughing a little bit. It was a terrible joke but he couldn’t help but still find it funny. “I hate your sense of humor.”

“No you don’t, I have another joke.”

“Lay it on me.”

“What do you call the Children of the Corn’s father?”

“I don’t know, what?”

“‘Pop’ corn.”

“Chrom I swear you’re meant to be a dad,” Robin laughed despite himself. “That is dad worthy.”

“I would be the best dad,” Chrom grinned, looking entirely too smug.

Robin nuzzled his neck, pressing kissed to where it met his shoulder again. Mainly because it was the closest spot to his face. Also because Chrom smelled really good there, and he was warm and it was a spot that was available to kiss. “Do you want to be a dad?” Robin asked him, grabbing his hand and running his fingers along the palm.

“Yeah, one day.”

Robin hummed a little bit. He thought being a dad would be nice but he had never given it much thought. Maybe he feared becoming his parents. It didn’t really matter in this moment though. Those were thoughts to worry about at a later date.

Chrom and him didn’t say anything to each for a little bit again. And again, Robin didn’t really mind at all. He felt so pleased and happy in that moment. His chest was warm. Robin had a small, dopey smile on his face that wouldn’t go away. God, he was just so happy in that moment it was almost unbearable.

“I love you,” Robin’s words were quiet but Chrom heard him. How could he not? They were close to each other and although they were quiet they weren’t mumbled.

A pause. A heartbeat.

“I love you too,” Chrom entwined their fingers and lifted Robin’s hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss against his knuckles.

The words made his heart flutter. And Robin leaned in and kissed Chrom gently for a moment before pulling away. Chrom was smiling at him. His eyes were glittering and Robin didn’t think that he could be happier in that moment.

He rested their foreheads together, smiling. In complete love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoa hey this story has gone on forever?? so i'm a little bit sad but also happy to say this is the last chapter  
> of pure fluff  
> just fluff here because they deserve fluff (and it isn't as if this story is fluffy enough already lmao)


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